Bleeding is a Luxury
by pineapplegoddess
Summary: Part 1 of a 3 part story on the events of what happened before, during and, after Olduvai... Madison Jones just got transferred to the RRTS. To bad she gets no support from her family. After the first mission everything is different... John Grimm/OC
1. Arrival

**I hope you enjoy the story my mind has created for you. I'm so excited for this series, it is one of my favorites! Please review it means a whole lot! **

**Also the Majority of it had been re-edited hence why its taken me so long to update. **

I just got accepted into the RRTS. This was the most exciting day of my life so far. It had been my dream to be an elite part of the Marines. I was about to meet my new 'team'. I was also the only woman, to ever make it to the RRTS which made me even more proud of myself. I was sitting in the lobby area, I guess that's what you would call it. I was waiting for my Sargent to come and get me. I wrote my parents a letter telling them of my success. I don't think they really cared, at least my father didn't. I put my head in my hands, my father never approved of anything I did.

"Madison Jones?" someone said, I automatically shot up at the voice.

"Yes, sir!" I said formally standing up and saluting. He looked me up and down and smirked, not a creepy smirk though.

"You don't have to do that here. My name is Asher Mahonin; call me Sarge. I am the Gunnery Sargent for this team. Follow me and I will introduce you to everyone else." He said, I grabbed my duffel bag and walked toward him.

"That's all you have?" he asked sounding surprised.

"I travel light." I said with a smirk of my own. Walking through the doorway he was standing in. I stopped and waited for him to go first.

"You pack lighter then some of my men." He said as he shut the door and walked forward, I followed as I gave a light snickering laugh.

"I don't want to carry what I don't have to." I said. He nodded like he knew what I was saying. We walked down some metal stairs.

"Men! I want you to meet your new team member, Madison Jones." Six men got up and faced me. I cant believe I was going to be living with 7 men.

"I'm jonesing for a-" one of the guys said as he approached me.

"Keep talking bud, you wont have a pair of testicles by the end of that sentence." I said interrupting him, he looked like a creeper, he talked like one too.

"Woo-hoo, we have a feisty one." one of the guys said. I smirked at that.

"That is one of our Corporal's, Dean Portman. We call him 'Portman'. He is the trash talker of the group." Sarge said referring to the guy who I interrupted.

"Our other Corporal is Eric Fantom 'Goat'." he said gesturing to a man that was old enough to be my father, or maybe older brother, I shook his hand.

"The rest of my men are Sergeant Gannon Roark, 'Destroyer'," A big black guy came up and shook my hand. He looked like a gentle giant.

"Sergeant Gregory Schofield, 'Duke'," he said referring to the one who called me feisty. I went to shake his hand he grabbed it gently and he kissed it. I blushed a little bit, he was pretty cute. Everyone rolled there eyes at his gesture. He was obviously a ladies man.

"Private First Class 'Mac', trust me his name is to long," he said. The Asian man came over to me. I gave him a quizzical look.

"Katsuhiko Kumanosuke Takahashi." I was surprised as I shook his hand. He obviously got that look a lot.

"Mac right?" I said with a smile. I got some giggles out of that one.

"and the last is Staff Sergeant John Grimm, 'Reaper'." he said as a guy came forward. He was gorgeous, his dark eyes pierced into mine. His hair was a little shaggy.

"Welcome to the team, Maddie." he said while shaking my hand. He had already given me a nickname.

"Madison is our new Sergeant. She is in charge of basic medical needs that we may have on a mission." Sarge said. I smiled standing there.

"I'll leave you here to get acquainted I have some things I need to do." Sarge said and left.

"Wow, to bad I'm not single." I said to the guys with a laugh at the end. I walked over to my bunk and set my stuff down. I turned around no one had moved. Talk about awkward. I started putting my stuff in the drawer by my bed, by then everyone else started to move around too. Portman of all people came and sat on the bed next to mine.

"So your taken?" he asked

"Yes that is the opposite of single." I heard some stifled giggles.

"Well that doesn't stop me."

"Portman!" they all said at once, this was my turn to stifle a laugh. I stood up.

"OK so quick question, I know that Portman is the creeper, who are the rest of you guys?" I asked. They all laughed except for Portman. Duke came over and stood next to me. Everyone was doing their own thing, so they weren't really paying attention.

"Well you have Destroyer, he doesn't bite unless you give him reason. He has a nice girlfriend." I laughed Duke really was a cutie.

"Mac is Mac, business man. Goat is the religious man. Sarge is like Mac. John is obsessed with his guns." I looked over and he was cleaning his guns.

"I can see that." I said. "And you are?"

"The ladies man." Destroyer said sitting not that far away from us. I burst out laughing, screw trying to keep it down. I was right.


	2. Fights and Parents

It had been a couple of days since I had first arrived. The men and I seemed to get along. Portman hadn't let up with his jokes. I didn't think he would anytime soon. Duke was still Duke but toned down when I had told him how serious my relationship with Pete was. I had gotten a letter or two since my arrival. I missed him a lot. I was in the weight room lifting some weights when John came in. We hadn't had a lot of time to talk or anything at all. I had mostly just gotten to know Duke and Sarge.

"Hey." he said as he walked in and sat on a press bench.

"Hey." I responded. I didn't know what else to say. I wasn't in the weight room lingo understanding yet.

I moved from the weights to the punching bag. I began to punch I could feel his eyes on me.

"Your punching all wrong. In a real fight you would break your hand." he said to me. I rolled my eyes and stopped punching and looked at him.

"I know how to punch." I said. He put the weights he was using down and started to walk towards me.

"Care to make a wager on that?" he said.

"Sure what do you have in mind?" I asked. He got into a fighting stance.

"Ah a good old spare. Your on!" I said following his stance. We circled each other like vultures for a moment then he attempted to punch me. I blocked it as fast as he moved to strike and hit him in the side. He seemed surprised by my reflexes. This routine went on for about five minutes until I got distracted and he tackled me to the floor. I looked into his eyes and saw something in them. Something that I couldn't describe.

"I see how it is." Dukes voice boomed from the entryway of the room. John blushed a little and got off of me and helped me up.

"You'll roll around with Johnny Boy but not for Duke." he said with a fake frown.

"No, John didn't believe I could punch. I think I have proved him wrong." I said with a bit of spunk.

"Right, what ever you call it." Duke said walking into the room. I punched him as we passed by each other.

"OW!" he said rubbing his arm.

"Oh by the way boys for future reference I took 13 years of Tae Kwon Do, and I am in the RRTS for a reason. Next time you think I cant punch or I am doing it wrong remember that." I said and exited the room with a smirk. I hit the showers and went to my bunk. I was sitting on it writing Pete a letter when Sarge walked in with the mail.

"Maddie you got mail." he said walking towards me. I got up and grabbed it from him. I inspected it. It was from my mom. I smiled and opened it and began to read.

_Dear Madison, _

_I am so happy to hear that you are doing well. We are very proud of you and your accomplishments. Your father though has suggested that we don't tell anyone. You know how he is. He doesn't think you are in the appropriate profession. I saw Pete the other day. He is looking well. He misses you terribly. Oh and I saw Mary Anne she says hi and to be expecting her letter soon. She thinks you are sailing the world. That's what everyone thinks. Anyway darling we send our love and we will write you again shortly. _

_Love, Mom and Dad. _

I was so pissed. I ripped the letter into little pieces and threw them in the waste basket. I walked heatedly back into the weight room. Duke and John were still in there now with the company of Destroyer. I walked over to the bag and started to punch it. The harder and more I punched the bag the angrier I got and the more I punched. I could feel their eyes on me in curiosity and wonderment. God it was my father that got me so pissed. When I announced to my parents that I was going into the Marines my father freaked out on me. I ran away after that and my father made up this ridiculous story that I was sailing around the world. Pete didn't even know I was in the Marines. It pissed me off. Anytime I told Pete that I was in the Marines, my father would counteract it and everyone believed it! Apparently he was more convincing than I was. I could feel my adrenaline rush start to wear off. My punches slowed and weakened. I finally stopped and stood there staring at the bag. My hands were starting to bleed. The three other men in the room were still standing where they were when I had begun. After a minute or two of silence John walked over to me cautiously.

"Are you OK?" he asked. Tears brimmed in my eyes as I looked at him.

"Ya, I'm fine." I lied.

"You want me to take you to the infirmary to get your hand bandaged up?" he asked. I shook my head no.

"I'll go later." I said and walked away. I went into the kitchen and sat at the table. I just sat there staring into oblivion. I was so caught up in nothing I didn't notice anyone had walked in let alone started talking to me.

"-ison, are you OK?" I heard the voice of Goat as I snapped out of it. I looked up at him dazed and confused.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Are you OK? You've been sitting there for about 4 minutes, not moving." He said.

"Sorry I didn't realize it." I said.

"Get a letter you didn't like?" He asked sporting a smile.

"Ya." I said.

"From? If you don't mind me asking."

"My parents, my mother rather."

"The parents don't like that your here?" he said in an understanding tone.

"Kind of. My mother is proud of me. My father on the other hand." I said getting up to get a glass of water realizing my thirst.

"Wow, different sides for once. At least to my knowledge."

"Yeah. My dad had never approved of anything I have done. When I told him I was going into the Marines he flew off the handle. He has everyone back home thinking I am traveling the world. No one but them know I am here, even my boyfriend. I don't know why but Pete believes him. More than me. He's like the good son my father never had, and he's the good father he never had." I explained.

"That's tough."

"Yeah it is." I said feeling a little awkward telling him all of this. I liked Goat but this was the first time that he really talked to me. Then he did the most amazing thing. He opened up to me.

"My dad was the way your dad is. My mom followed everything he said and did. She believed in whatever he wanted her to. When I went to jail the first time they both stopped talking to me. After I got out I went to see them and they had moved. They were ashamed of me. 7 years later I was recruited into the RRTS and here I am now. You have to do what you feel necessary. Not what other people think is." he said. I sat there looking at him. He had just opened up to me and as far as Duke told me it took a long time for that to happen. It had only been a couple of days.

"Thanks for the advice." I said with a smile.

"Anytime." he said and walked out of the kitchen leaving me alone again with my thoughts. After a couple of minutes I got up. I walked to my bunk with a purpose. I pulled out my duffel bag and took out all of the letters I had gotten from my parents. I could see everyone looking at me in wonderment. I grabbed my lighter and walked into the bathroom. I placed the letters in the dry sink and lit them on fire. Duke came walking in seeing me staring at the fire.

"That bad huh?" he asked.

"Ya, the 'rents have drawn the last line with me." I said not looking away from the fire.

"The 'rents? I thought this was about Pete." I looked up at him.

"Pete may be my boyfriend but he doesn't effect me in the same way my parents do." I said and looked back at the fire.


	3. 1st Misson

I had officially been a RRTS for a week. It felt great. I had adjusted to living with 7 men. It wasn't really that bad. I had gotten used to Portman's trash talk and made good friends with everyone else. After my episode with my parents Goat talked to me more and everyone was more understanding of why I was here. I was here because I worked my ass off to impress my parents. Even though it wasn't enough for them, or the wrong thing. We were all sitting in the bunk area doing whatever we wanted to do. John was cleaning his guns, Duke and Destroyer were playing a video game, Mac was looking at some thing electrical, Portman was just there pissing everyone off like usual. Sarge was off doing whatever he does, Goat was reading the bible, and I was reading an old book I had found a while back.

"OK, men gear up we got a mission." Sarge's voice boomed down the stairs. It took some time to convince to Sarge I was OK with him just saying men. I was used to it. We all got up and started to walk to the locker rooms. We got there and started to get ready. I was so used to the fact of getting dressed and undressed, in front of men, I forgot about Portman.

I took off my shirt revealing a black sports bra and heard a whistle.

"Damn honey, what I would do to you if I had the time." Portman said.

"Oh baby what I would do to you if we had time for thinking that. It would have something to do with lighter fluid, matches and a rusty old pocket knife. Not to mention your-" I said as I put on my undershirt and my vest getting interrupted by Destroyer.

"You guys cut it out. Especially you Portman. If there is any of this on the mission I am sure I wont be the only one to have a 'friendly fire' situation or leave your ass there." he said. I smiled at that and took my pants off putting the black cargo ones on.

When Portman filed out I grabbed my med bag and looked at Destroyer.

"Thanks for that." I said with a smile.

"Anytime. Don't worry I actually meant it." He said with a wink and we filed out of the locker room into a helicopter. Everyone was grabbing their guns.

"Handle ID Maddie." the feminine electronic voice said. I was surprised on how well that nickname stuck. I sat next to Goat and Duke.

"OK men," Sarge started as we lifted off the air. "We are going to Burma. There is an American Civilian stuck there. Issac Anderson. We are to go in grab him and get out. From what we know he is stuck in some sort of military camp. I don't need to remind you how dangerous Burma is and to use extreme caution. If something seems out of the ordinary tell someone. Understand?"

"Yes, sir." we all said in unison.

"Any questions?"

"No sir." We all said again in unison. We all sat there on the long ride to Burma.


	4. Butting Heads with the Boss

We had made two stops to refuel. One in Hawaii and one in the Philippines. 16 hours later we were in Burma. The helicopter dropped us out in a field near a village that was near the camp. We gathered together as the helicopter flew off. It wouldn't come back unless called by radio by one of us. We got into formation and walked to the outside of the camp. We found a hill like mountain that looked over the camp and rested there. Forest and tree's circled around the camp. That would do nicely with cover.

"We should wait til dark. More cover." John said to Sarge. They were both looking through binoculars at the camp. From what I could see with the naked eye was a shit load of armed men carrying a bunch of high powered rifles and machine guns.

"There is at least 30 men down there with some pretty high powered weapons that I can see." I said. John and Sarge both looked at me with the same expression.

"What?" I asked they both smiled shook their heads and looked back through the binoculars. I looked at Duke, he had the same expression. No one answered my question.

"Maybe we brought her in to early." John said to Sarge.

"Excuse me?" I said overhearing him. John stood up and walked towards me.

"I think in my professional opinion we let you come on a mission to early." He said standing in front of me. He towered over me making me feel small and somewhat helpless. But I stood my ground and got in his face.

"Why because I stated a fact?" I said feeling the heat rise from my body out of anger.

"No, because you are to eager to go down there."

"What makes you think that?"

"The fact you stated the fact." he said.

"Well, _Reaper_ I'm waiting for your orders. You're in charge of us, you and Sarge give the orders." I said emphasizing his name. We were standing close in each others faces, staring each other down with glares.

"Hey, we do not have time to deal with this shit right now. Do it on your own time!" Sarge said coming in between us. I backed off and sat on a rock close to where I was. John may be in charge of me but he is only Staff Sargent. Sarge is the one who is in charge.

"OK, we are going to infiltrate an hour after the sun goes down. Until then rest and get prepared." Sarge said sitting on a rock like we all were.

Waiting for the sun to set took for what seemed like forever. No one really talked, or did anything really the whole time.

I wasn't eager to go down there. Hell I was scared shit less. I was just stating that with the naked eye I could see 30 men with guns. Who knows how many they saw with the binoculars. How dare John think that. I have never given him reason to think of me as a amateur reckless marine, but then again this was my first mission with these guys. I was used to giving orders. At my old base there was no Staff Sargent. I took the role as one even though I was a Sargent. Our Gunnery Sargent took this in consideration. When I got a recruitment letter from the RRTS he gave me a choice. To either stay and become the Staff Sargent or go and stay a Sargent until the new Gunnery Sargent promotes me.

"OK men lets go." Sarges voice sound in the cool dark night air. We set up our headsets made sure they worked and got into formation and headed down the hill.


	5. Mission Complete

We got into the camp without being seen. We split up in groups of two and started to search for Issac Anderson. I was with Mac. The only thing in the deep dark forest was the bin fires strategically placed out in the camps to give off just enough light, but not enough to be known. We approached the first building. I peeked inside through a small crack in the wall. I saw about 4 men in there drinking surrounded by heavy machinery. I looked at Mac and shook my head and we went on to the next building. After two more buildings Portman's voice filled our ears.

"Subject found, fourth house to the left three down." he said.

"OK men meet on the west side of the camp." Sarge said. Mac and I made our way to the said area. Once everyone was there Sarge spoke up.

"The buildings we looked into had a shit load of heavy artillery with about 3-7 men in each. If we are going to do this we have to be quite." he said. We stood there and thought about ways to go in quietly. We were so quite we heard a twig snap, but none of us had moved. We all spun around to where the noise came from. A man was standing there with a machine gun pointed at us he cocked the gun with a smile spreading across his face. The gun was aimed in our general direction. He was in guerrilla warfare. You could tell by his stealth tactics and how he was dressed. I was in the back of the men hidden from his sight. Since I was so much shorter I did think I was spotted. Plus if he did he would be saying to hand me over to him, since I am a woman. I moved into the dark with stealth. I walked into the trees and around to where this man was. I snuck up behind him. He was speaking Burmese into what appeared to be a radio. Everyone looked at him in shock and utter confusion. They couldn't shoot him because it would make to much noise. I slowly raised my arms to his head. In one swift motion I grabbed his head and snapped his neck. His body fell revealing me to the marines. I walked back over to where they were standing.

"I don't speak Burmese but I think we are now known." I said as people from the nearby camp started getting out of the buildings. We glanced over at the sudden commotion. We had been found out. They had begun searching for us.

"OK then we go in and get Anderson. Try not to shoot him. Meet back at the hill." Sarge said and pointed to the hill we were at earlier. We got into formation and headed into the camp. As soon as we were spotted bullets started flying. We took cover behind one of the buildings. We split back up into groups, this time I was with John. We filed out. The idea was to get to Anderson first grab him and run like hell while telling everyone else you got him. It was somewhat like capture the flag with guns and the risk of being killed. John and I ran to the next building while firing our weapons. We collided into the building out of breath.

"Are you OK?" John asked I guess the look on my face concerned him. It was a face of worry, fear, and the mask to cover them up.

"This isn't my first mission _sir_. I'm fine, lets focus on the task at hand." I said. I was worried for Anderson. All of these bullets flying around he was going to get shot. John nodded to me with a small smirk. It was so dark except for the glow of the camps bin fires and the fire power. I noticed something across the camp parallel to John and I. I didn't know what it was. I squinted to see better then realization hit me as I heard a whooshing noise. John moved out to see if the coast was clear. I grabbed him from the vest throwing him back towards me and behind me towards the forest. Before he could say anything in protest the impact came from what I saw in the distance hit the building. I fell to the ground with John beside me. All that was left of the building was smoldering splinters. We laid there looking at the foundation of the building that was there minutes ago. I could feel the adrenaline running through my veins this was why I was a Marine, I loved this.

"Holy shit!" John exclaimed lying next to me.

"Ya I know." I said as I stared at the foundation.

"Come on we better move out. They will notice we aren't blown to oblivion soon." He said getting up. He held his hand out for me. I took it and he pulled me up. As soon as I was standing on my legs I collapsed and fought the urge to scream. The pain that was radiating from my entire right leg was unbearable.

"What's wrong?" John said panicked.

"Drag me over there behind that tree." I said pointing at a tree. I had to look at my leg and attempt to fix the damage. John put his hands under my arms and dragged me to said tree. Once we were behind it I propped myself up against it. I went to roll my pant leg up, the pain was to unbearable to do that. I got my pocket knife out of my pocket and cut the material. My entire leg was covered in blood.

"No wonder it hurt." I said looking at my leg. John looked down from where he was standing. His eyes widened.

"What can I do?" He asked squatting next to me.

"Get a thing of gauze out of my pack." I said. He got to work on finding it. Seconds later he handed it to me. "Now just keep an eye out." I said with a smile as I started to wrap my leg. This would take care of it for a couple of hours. I got up to my feet with the help of the tree.

"Are you ready for this?" he asked as we stood there looking at the sight in front of us. The entire village was engulfed in flame. Gun fire and screams echoed through the night.

"Yeah lets go." I said. He ran and I limped ran to the village using the trees as cover. Guns cocked and ready we kept a watchful eye out for our comrades and the villagers.

"We have Anderson. Fall back men." Sarge's voice said through our head pieces. I looked at John and nodded. We made our way to the hill, where we were at earlier. I glanced to my right and to my left keeping a watchful eye. We passed a building and I looked to my right I saw Goat standing there without a gun and one of the villagers pointing a gun at him. I lifted my gun, aimed and shot, killing the man. Goat turned to me and ran to where we were. John and I never stopped running. Goat caught up to us and out ran me. I was loosing a lot of blood and energy fast. John looked back and saw me lagging behind. I became frustrated because I couldn't run. John ran to me and took my left side. Goat took the right. They helped me walk up to the hill.

Once we got to the top of the hill we all collapsed. The hill seemed steeper than it had earlier today. Probably because of my leg and the two men next to me had to practically drag me. I looked up and saw Sarge running over.

"What the hell happened?" he demanded.

"A building blew up. Maddie shoved me out of the way, her leg got most of the blow." John said out of breath. I sat up with what little energy I had.

"Can you make it to the field?" Sarge asked.

"I believe so." I said straining to get up. Goat helped me up.

"Keep up with the group." Sarge said and we headed out. It was the longest mile run I had ever ran. I limped the majority of the way trying to keep up with the group. Everyone would take turns helping me keep up. We finally got to the opening to the field. I felt like I could run I was so happy. Relief actually ran through my body. Duke and Destroyer were helping me at this time. We waited for the helicopter. As soon as we spotted it, I could have cried. As soon as it touched the ground we moved in. As soon as the last person got in we took off.

"OK, lets see your leg." Sarge said. I moved the pieces of fabric to expose the bloody gauze. The gauze didn't seem to do any good at all. It was bleeding through. Sarge leaned in to start to unwrap the gauze off my leg. As soon as he touched the gauze I passed out from pain and exhaustion.


	6. Recovery

I opened my eyes, and instantly shut them. The light was so bright and the fact the room was white didn't help. I could feel that my leg was wrapped up. I opened my eyes again. It was a hospital room. I had two IV's hooked up to my arm and hand. I looked around there was no one in there. I laid back down making certain that I couldn't touch the IV's. I was a Marine and I was scared shitless of IV's. The thought of it getting caught on something or being torn out gave me the creeps. The monitor next to my bed was beeping quite annoyingly. I tried to distract myself but it didn't work. _God where is everyone? _I thought. As soon as I thought it the door opened. Goat walked in, as soon as he looked at the bed he gasped.

"Hey." I said with a smile. My voice was rough and sounded like a frog.

"Your awake!" he said walking over to my side of bed.

"How long have I been out?" I asked surprised at his reaction.

"About 5 days." He said. My eyes widened. "I'm gonna get Sarge." he said. "Do you want anything to drink?"

"Water would be nice." I said, he nodded and walked out the door. Seconds later Duke ran through the door.

"Maddie! I was so worried about you." he said running to my side of the bed.

"I can see that." I said laughing a little. "Where am I?" I asked Duke.

"You are in the RRTS infirmary." he said.

I nodded, "Thought this place looked familiar." I said with a smile. Sarge came in a minute later along with John, and Goat with water. I took the water before anyone could say anything else to me. The liquid felt heavenly as it went down my throat.

"Hey Maddie." Sarge said.

"Hey Sarge." I said as I finished the water. I wiped my mouth. "What happened?" I asked.

"You passed out on the helicopter. From what I have seen before I was surprised you made it to the helicopter." Sarge said. Everyone had now piled into the small room.

"Thank you?" I asked. He nodded. "So whats the damage?" I asked curious.

"Well," John spoke up next to Sarge. He looked at Sarge as if asking permission. Sarge nodded a continue. "You had some shrapnel in your leg from the building explosion. Not to mention some minor cuts and scrapes from the flying pieces of wood. They didn't pierce anything important but you did loose a lot of blood."

"Ya and if your fine ass hadn't shoved Reaper out of the way he'd be a goner." Duke said. Sarge gave him a disapproving look. I looked at John with a confused look.

"I went through the math and the explosion. If you hadn't shoved me away and moved yourself we would both be dead." he said then looked at the ground.

"Wow." was all I could manage to say. It was a lot to take in. "So would this make you my bitch?" I asked trying to lighten the mood. Everyone laughed.

"No, but I do owe you a lot." he said with a smile.

"So how long am I gonna be holed up here?"

"The Doc said to not move around much. Take it easy. Do you want to take leave?" Sarge asked. I looked at him somewhat offended.

"No! I'm not going to leave because my leg is all torn up. I'll lie in bed for a couple of days then get my ass in gear, ready for the next mission." I said somewhat defensively. Sarge and John smiled at that.

"Spoken like a true Marine." Sarge said. I smiled back. "Get some rest." he said and walked out. Goat followed him. I looked up at Duke.

"Don't ever do that again." He said as he took my hand and kissed it. "I'm going to go get a game system so your not bored. Need anything else?" he asked.

"Can you get me a book?" I asked. He looked at me like I had just asked him the square root of something. I couldn't help but laugh. I looked over to John who was still standing in the doorway..

"Do you know what a book is?" I said to John still laughing. He smirked and shook his head.

"Ya I know where some exist." he said in a humorous tone. Duke looked down at me and rolled his eyes.

"I'm still getting you a game." Duke said. I laughed.

"OK." I said as he left the room leaving John and I alone. He walked over to the bed.

"You know we had to call your parents when you were out." He said. I cringed, panic started to flow through my body. Then I remembered the last letter they wrote me. I calmed down.

"I wonder what they are going to tell everyone." I said scoffing. John looked at me confused. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"My parents haven't told anyone I am here. People think I am sailing around the world. Hell no one even knows I'm in the Marines." I said looking ahead at the white wall.

"Why does it matter?" he asked grabbing a nearby chair and sitting next to me. This conversation was getting old, it was what the third time I had said it. I rolled my eyes and went on.

"My dad wanted me to become a doctor. Or do anything that was 'respected' by his standards. He says this is 'mans' work." I said looking down at my hands. "He's never approved of anything I have done. Even when I was little, hell even a teenager. My mom disagrees with him but doesn't put up a fight." I rolled my eyes again. "But I am over it. They went over the line last time they sent me a letter. They told me my boyfriend doesn't know I am here. I tried to tell him in a separate letter. But somehow my parents get everything I send out. They edit my letters." I said finally looking at John. He was looking right at me.

"Wow." he said.

"Ya, I know." I said as we sat there in silence after that.

"I always wondered how my parents would have taken it. Me going into the Marines. They died when I was little." he said. I looked at him he looked sad as if remembering everything.

"I'm sorry." I said.

"Don't be." he said. He shook whatever he was thinking. "Anyway back to what I was saying. We had to give them a call. When you can they want you to give them a call." he said. I shook my head.

"Fuck that. I'll write them if anything. I don't want to hear how they were right and I was wrong." I said crossing my arms, being mindful of the IV. John sat there as a smile spread across his face. I glanced over at him, and smiled myself.

"What?" I asked.

"You are such a girl." he said. I smacked him with my hand.

"In that case you got your ass saved by a girl." I said laughing.

"Ya, I guess so. You certainly earned your spot on the RRTS that usually doesn't happen for a couple of more missions." he said as he got up. "I'll let you get some rest." I nodded. Before he left he stopped in the door way.

"Thanks Maddie." he said. I nodded my head and watched him leave. When he was gone my eyelids started to feel heavy. I like the relationships I was developing here. They treated me like everyone else. Completely capable of doing everything they can, but with a hint of treating me like their sister, or possibly daughter. I felt wanted here. I thought these thoughts as I drifted off into a deep sleep.


	7. Shark Attacks and Pete

For the next couple of days I stayed in the infirmary and everyone visited or stopped by asking if I needed anything. Duke and I played video games til we got so engrossed in the game we started yelling at each other. Which alerted everyone else in the building. Destroyer would some times watch Duke and I play claiming we were the most entertaining people while playing games. Portman tried to make moves on me in my weakened state. That ended fast with the help of the other guys. Goat came in once in a while and would read me passages from the bible. But that was all the regular contact I got. Sarge, Mac, and John all came around once in a while and talked and to see how I was but that was about it.

On the third day of lying in bed I couldn't do it anymore. I had bed sores, I was restless, I stopped sleeping. I needed to move. I attempted to get up. The boys had found me some old wooden crutches. I grabbed onto them and made my way to the kitchen. Getting the hang of the crutches took me a couple of minutes. I appeared in the door way of the kitchen all the guys were in there eating breakfast.

"Holy shit look who is out of bed!" Mac said with a smile. Everyone turned and looked at me.

"Hey guys." I said somewhat out of breath. This crutches thing was a work out in itself. "I was starting to get restless in there, so I came to see whats what." I said with a smile. Duke got a chair and sat it next to him. I went over and basically fell into the chair. It was great to move but damn not moving for a while took its tole hard. Everyone looked at me.

"What?" I asked shrugging. They went back to eating there meals. I rolled my eyes. I grabbed an apple and started to chop down on it. After breakfast I made my way to my cot, while the guys went to work out. They suggested I start trying to walk before I started to work out again. I rolled my eyes at them. Oh how I had missed this stupid cot. I actually missed sleeping by these smelly men. I laughed to myself and I sat on it putting my crutches against the wall. I sighed. I hated being so immobile, and helpless. I wiggled my toes on my hurt leg. It wasn't in a hard cast but it was wrapped. I lifted my leg onto the bed and began to unwrap it. I hadn't gotten a good look at my leg. Whenever John would look at it I didn't want to. I was great with other peoples wounds but just OK with my own. I looked at my leg and started to take off the gauze. After a huge roll of gauze unraveled my leg was revealed. They were right it was pretty beat up. There were a couple of stitches here and there on the bigger cuts. Surgical tape covered the ones that weren't deep enough for stitches. I heard footsteps coming into the room I glanced up as John walked in.

"What are you doing?" he asked looking at me and then my leg.

"Just looking at my leg. You did a good job stitching it up." I said poking the skin that wasn't harmed.

"Well I was the medic until you arrived." he said as matter of fact. I rolled my eyes.

"You know you do that a lot." he said and walked further into the room.

"Do what?" I asked acting like I had done nothing at all.

"Roll your eyes." he said he walked over and stood by me. I ignored him.

"So when do you think these stitches can come out?" I asked, he smiled knowing I was ignoring him.

"Today I believe lets see." he said as he motioned for my leg. I moved it off the side of the bed. He grabbed my leg and put it on his knee and looked at it.

"Ya we can do it today if you would like. You healed up nicely." he said. I laughed a little at how non nonchalant he was about it. It was like he did this everyday.

"Do you want to do it right now?" he asked.

"Sure if you can. If not I can wait." I said he nodded his head.

"Come on." he said holding his hand out for help. I used it and got up. I put a little bit of pressure on my leg. It didn't feel great but it wasn't horrible.

"Do you want to try to walk " he asked seeing I was trying to put as much pressure as I could on my leg.

"I'd like too, don't know if I can though." I said trying to remember how to walk on my leg. John backed up giving me some room. I limped forward towards John. I smiled at my little success.

"I'll spot you then." he said and walked behind me as I made my way to the infirmary.

"I'm surprised on how eager you are to get going again. Most of the guys I was with through out my entire training would use this as a ticket home." he said as he grabbed my waist as I started to fall over.

"You OK?" he asked putting me against the wall to rest for a minute. I nodded.

"Well that's the best thing. I don't want to go home." I said with a smile. "Plus I like to move. Being immobile for that long seriously was worse then getting hurt in the first place." I stood back up and made my way again into the infirmary.

"God this fuckin hurts!" I said limping more than I should have been. I almost sprinted to the infirmary bed when I saw it. I sat down. John just walked in shaking his head with a smirk plastered on his face.

"Don't make fun of me." I said joking. He got the med kit and slid a chair over.

"How many stitches are there?" I said looking down at my leg.

"I think some where near 150ish."

"Ooh this is going to be fun!" I said sarcastically. He took out some scissors and snipped the stitches then pulled them out.

"I always hated this." I said.

"Not your first time with stitches?" he asked, I looked at him as a 'are you kidding me?' stare. He was completely serious. I rolled my eyes.

"Hardly. When I was 4 I cracked my head open." I said lifting my head up revealing a faded scar. "I fell onto the edge of the porch at my house. I've had surgery on my knee for acting like an idiot." I said laughing at the memory.

"What did you do?" he asked with a smile.

"My friends and I stole a cart from a supermarket and went to one of their houses and dragged the damn thing onto the roof and rode it off." I said laughing he laughed with me.

"Two days later I realized my knee was bigger than the other one and went to the doc. I tore the ligament and a whole bunch of other muscles in my knee. He thought I was insane because I hardly felt any pain." I stopped to laugh.

"But that's when I realized I wanted to be a medic." I said John was getting out the stitches faster than I thought he would. We sat in silent for a couple of minutes and before I knew it he was done.

"Try not to put all of your weight on it. And don't lift weight while your standing up." he said as he started to clean up.

"Thanks." I said. Getting up. I put some pressure on it. I felt so weak. I frowned and tried to put more weight on it. _I guess I put to much weight on it_, flashed through my mind as my leg gave in and I started to fall to the floor.. John caught me before I hit the ground.

"That hurt." I said sarcastically.

"I told you not to put all of your weight on it." he said.

"I didn't. I wanted to see how much I could take... now I know." I said as a matter of factly. He rolled his eyes. He helped me back onto my good leg. I sat down on the edge of the bed. John and I just stared at each other. There was something about this guy that I couldn't put my finger on. He was different from the others. I was about to open my mouth to say 'thank you' as Sarge walked into the room.

"Maddie you have a call." He said snapping John and I out of our staring match.

"Who is it?" I asked sliding off the bed onto my leg. John grabbed my arm and helped me get adjusted to the weight.

"I don't know. Just go answer it." he said. I walked off to the door.

"Thanks John." I said as I limped out.

"Yup." I heard him say back. I made my way up the stairs which was harder than I thought it would be without the crutches. I walked into Sarge's office and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" I said into the phone.

"Madison darling how are you?" it was my mother.

"Hi mom, I'm great. How are you?" I said with an upset tone. I didn't want to talk to my parents.

"Oh good. We were so worried about you." she said.

"I'm sure." I muttered into the phone.

"I have a certain someone who wants to talk to you dearie." she said. I loved my mother don't get me wrong. She was one of the only people who believed in me. But she couldn't stand up for herself. I let out a sigh.

"Who is it mom? I really don't want to talk to dad." I said, she didn't respond. Whoever it was she was handing the phone to them. I could tell, I knew my mother.

"Hey baby." Pete's voice came through the phone. A smile instantly shot across my face.

"Hey babe." I said. It was like being in high school talking to your crush.

"How's your leg?" he asked. _So he knew about my leg? I wonder what pathetic story my father gave him. _

"It's sore but I'm walking on it now." I said acting like nothing was wrong.

"I can believe that you got attacked by a shark!" he said. I rolled my eyes.

"Ya, well that's what I get for dangling it over the edge of the boat." I said. I wasn't even going to try and tell him the truth. My father would just talk him into thinking I was lying. He had done it so many times before.

"That's how you are." he said and let out a sigh. I was instantly confused.

"What do you mean 'that's how I am'?" I asked confused.

"You are so careless Madison. You always do whatever you please and you don't care about the consequences." he said. I was even more confused now.

"Pete whats going on?" I asked, but I already knew.

"Madison I think we should see other people. With you going all around the world and all I don't know if I can trust you to stay loyal to me." he said.

"Plus you left without telling me." he said. I stood there with the phone glued to my head. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Madison?" he asked after I didn't say anything.

"What. The. Fuck. Pete!" I started, "You don't think you can trust me? We have been together for four years!"

"I know and I think we should see other people now." he said. "Look I have to go, so ya." he said and then hung up leaving me hanging. I stood there for a moment staring at the wall in front of me. I was sad at first, then the anger started to build. Something had happened. Something had gone on. I slammed the phone down on the receiver. My blood started boiling. I know this has something to do with his whore of a sister. I started to breath heavier. The anger was building. I walked to the stairs from Sarges office, forgetting about the pain radiating from my leg. I hopped down the stairs, somewhat remembering I was still injured. I walked to my cot and took out my box of letters. The only ones inside were the ones from Pete. There was tickets from concerts we went to and pictures of us together. I grabbed the box and threw it in the trash can. I walked to the weight room. All of the guys had congregated in there. I had begun putting more weight than I should have on my leg. I walked over to the door that made its way outside. I opened it leaving all of the guys standing there looking at me like I was crazed.


	8. Refuse to Cry and Quick Letter to Joan

I walked out into the sunlight letting the door close behind me. I sat down on the grass next to the building. I let out a ragged breath. I wasn't going to cry. I refused to cry over boys. Four years. Four years gone down the drain. Most of it was long distance relationship but we still had our good times. I let out another sigh. I sat there and mulled things over. I closed my eyes and let my body be engulfed in the sun. It was warm and comforting. Like a security blanket. I smiled to myself. I heard the door open next to me. My smiled went away and I opened my left eye to see who it was. I couldn't figure out who it was just seeing their frame, so I just gave up and closed my eyes. Seconds later the sun was blocked from me. Cutting off my warmth. I opened my eyes slowly. It was Sarge.

"Hello Sarge." I said looking up at him. He looked down at me.

"What's going on solider?" he said still standing there.

"Emotional stuff, Sarge." I said closing my eyes again.

"It wont effect me after a couple of minutes Sarge. It was sudden I just have to get over the shock of it." I said I opened my eyes again and looked up at him. He didn't look concerned but for lack of a better word, it would be used in this moment to explain the look on Sarge's face.

"Don't worry I will be in ship shape tomorrow. Well, except for the walking thing." I said reassuring him He just looked down at me.

"The boys have told me about your parents. I am proud of the woman you are. Don't let them make you think other wise. You are one of the best soldiers I have ever known." he said. This looked somewhat painful for him, but at the same time comfortable for him. I looked down then looked back up at him.

"Thank you Sarge." I said with a weak smile. He had somewhat hit the thorn in my side but it was the one in my chest that was bugging me at the moment. He smiled at me and walked back inside and left me sitting in the sunlight. After a while I could feel my leg throbbing from walking on it. I glanced down at it. It was defiantly swollen. I gave another sigh, as the door opened and Duke walked out with a bottle of water. I gave him a smile.

"As much as I know that we both wish these were beers this was the closest thing I found." he said and handed me one of the bottles and sat down.

"Thanks." I said opening the bottle.

"I should have probably brought you an ice pack for your leg too." he said before he took a gulp of the water. I shrugged my shoulders.

"I'll ice it tonight." I said. I could feel his eyes peering at the side of my head.

"Whats wrong Maddie?" he asked.

"Pete dumped me." I said simply and took a gulp of the water.

"Why?" he said shocked.

"Who knows. I don't know." I began, "The best part of it is I'm sad but not nearly as sad as I should be considering I was with him for over 4 years." I said and looked at Duke. His eyes widened.

"4 years?" he said, I couldn't help but laugh. I nodded.

"Damn girl." he said shaking his head and taking another gulp of water.

"I know. I am more sad over the fact I wasted over 4 years on him, and that I cant walk." I said with a laugh. Duke shook his head and laughed.

"Well, Maddie maybe this is for the better." he said wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

"Duke as much as we have gotten to know each other and bonded, I love you... like a brother." I said as I accepted his arm around my shoulders. He burst out laughing, I soon followed.

"I love you like a sister Maddie. I wasn't implying what you were thinking." he said in between laughs.

Duke and I sat there until the sun went down. We talked about relationships we had, had and how stupid some of them were. When the sun went down he helped me up and we walked, well somewhat limped, inside, and went our separate ways. Duke went to the kitchen, claiming he hadn't eaten all day and he was starving. I went to my cot. I wasn't hungry at all. I sat down and took out a piece of paper and a pen. I was going to write one of my friends to see what was going on. I was curious for the real reason he dumped me.

_Dear Joan, _

_Long time no talk. So, what the hell is going on up there? Pete just dumped me. Do you know whats up? Anyway things are going great here. Lots of stuff to see and do. Too bad my leg is all messed up. I assume you know. Anyway, I will talk to you later. _

_ ~Madison_

I put the letter in an envelope and made my way to Sarge's room. I wasn't worried about my father editing this letter. She lived in another state, she was still in school, becoming a doctor. I smiled as I limped to the destination.

I walked to the doorway of Sarges office and knocked on the wall. He turned around in his chair and smiled as he saw me.

"I have something to mail." I said handing him the envelope.

"Everything OK?" he asked. My eyes met up with his.

"Yeah, nothing I cant handle Sarge." I said with a grin. He smiled back and I turned and left.


	9. Thats Why They Call Him Reaper

It had been four days since Pete broke up with me. Four days since I sent the letter to Joan. I was anxious to hear back from her, I would be getting a letter back any day now.

I sat in the weight room lifting weights for the top half of my body. My leg was almost healed. John said I could start lifting small full body weights in a couple of days. I could support the majority of my weight on it. I was surprised on how fast it was healing.

Duke, Destroyer, and Mac were all helping me through the hole 'break up' process. They think that since I am a girl I need the whole ice cream and chick flicks. I talked them out of that and into shooting practice and using the punching bag. I didn't need it but they were too cute to pass up.

I sat up from lifting weights. I was in there all alone again. This had been the third time in the last 2 days I got to be alone in the weight room. John would usually not let me alone in here in risk of me trying to lift weights. I couldn't blame him though. I let out a sigh and got up. It didn't hurt but it was still tender getting up, and walking fast. I walked over to the pull up bar and jumped up. One pull up, two pull ups three pull ups.

_Since my leg incident I was able to focus on my upper strength which made me a lot more happy that I was doing something. _

Four pull ups, five pull ups, six pull ups.

_I got the feeling I was no longer alone. I had learned many missions ago to trust my gut instinct. _

Seven pull ups, and eight pull ups.

I let go of the bar and landed on my good leg mostly. I turned around and no one was there. I shrugged it off and walked off to the showers. I walked into the bathrooms and to my locker. I got some fresh clothes out and walked to the showers. Once again I got the feeling I was being watched. I spun around and no one was there. This was starting to creep me out. I placed my clean clothes on the chair next to the shower. The guys were nice enough to give me my own designated shower and toilet. I gave them all shit on how they were all softies inside not the hard core marines they had on their exteriors. I smiled at that memory as I took my shirt off. I pulled my pony tail out and shook my hair letting it fall into place. I was about to take off my pants when the gut feeling came back. I looked up and around still no one was there.

_Snap the fuck out of it Madison!_ A voice yelled in my brain.

I suddenly felt vulnerable and opened the curtain to reveal Portman. He grabbed me by the shoulders and shoved me against the wall.

_What the fuck? _My mind screamed again. Reflexes kicked in and I kicked him in the groin and bit one hand while grabbing the other arm and twisting it around. I pinned him against the opposing wall.

"Sarge! John! Duke! Someone!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. I slammed Portman against the wall out of anger. His body wanted to curl into a ball considering the kick I just gave him to his groin I couldn't blame that need. I heard 6 set of heavy foot steps running down the stairs and into the bathroom.

"Maddie?" I heard the voices of six grown men say in panic.

"Here!" I said. They ran to my shower. John was the one to move the curtain back, revealing me, Portman and a pile of blood forming at the bottom of the wall I had Portman pinned to.

"Oh my god!" I heard John say. They all ran over to me. Who knew that 7 men and one woman could fit in this shower. John and Duke pried me off of Portman. Sarge, Mac, and Goat took Portman, and dragged him off to the infirmary. Destroyer stayed with John and Duke and I. Duke and John guided me out of the shower. I was in shock and I had kicked Portman with my bad leg.

"Are you OK?" Duke asked me as he set me down on a chair that I could only assume Destroyer got and put next to me.

"Ya, I'm fine." I said in a somewhat shaky voice. I was fine just a little shaken up. I looked up at Duke, there was pure concern in his eyes. I gave a silly weak smile. I looked up at John. He looked like he was going to rip off Portman's head. His face was flushed red with anger and his fists were balled up, his knuckles turning white. He was staring at the shower and the blood.

Duke was looking at my hands and my body for cuts and scrapes. Destroyer came to my other side and knelled down next to me.

"What happened baby girl?" he asked. This was his nickname for me. He was the only one who did and could call me that. I took my eyes off of John and looked at Destroyer. He had concern in his eyes too but he also had anger.

"I was about to take a shower and Portman jumped me. OW!" I said as Duke pushed the bruise that was forming on my cheek from being pushed into the wall. He mouthed a 'sorry'.

"I'm gonna-" John started and started to walk to the infirmary. I jumped to my feet and ran to the door blocking Johns way out.

"John this is my fight, not yours." I said putting my arms out and holding on to the door frame.

"Do you know what he would have done to you if you would have froze? Or weren't properly trained? Or two days ago when your reflexes weren't that fast?" John said with pure hatred in his voice. He was pissed like none other.

"Yes John, I do know but even if that were the case you guys heard me yell, you would have been down here fast enough." I said. I looked up at him, nothing had changed in his expression.

"You could have froze." he said with spite. I looked up at him, I looked into his eyes. There was anger at humanity for the ability to do this, pain from the distrust from a friend, and concern for me? I moved my hand and wrapped it around his bicep. Well not necessarily around but on his bicep. I looked up at him again.

"John I am trained for when stuff like this to happens to protect myself. What Portman did was wrong but he did it to me. This is my fight, and trust me given the amount of blood in the shower he isn't going to try anything like that again." I said looking into his eyes. This seemed to tame him just a little. He loosened up a little. His muscles relaxed and his facial expression relaxed. He let out a sigh as I let my hand fall back to my side. He grabbed my hand as it went past his. He squeezed it tight for a second then pushed his way passed me.

"Thank you." I said under my breath half intentionally making it so he could hear me half so he couldn't. He stopped in his tracks for a moment and stood up almost as if he was going to turn around and say something but he then continued on walking forward. He had heard me.

I looked back over at Duke and Destroyer.

"Want to help me clean up the shower room then go see how much damage I managed to conflict on Portman's face?" I asked with some humor in my voice. They both smiled and nodded, like little kids being asked if they wanted a cookie shaking their heads yes. I walked into the room with both of them on my sides.

"So your OK baby girl?" Destroyer asked.

"Ya, I'm OK." I said and smiled up at him.

I really was OK. The initial shock had worn off. I turned to Duke and gave him a smile. Duke went into the shower and turned on the water as Destroyer went to get a cleaning rag. I went to go get some cleaner. Once I was alone I replayed the whole thing in my head. What would drive Portman to do that? I knew he was a creeper, but damn not that bad. I shook my head. I grabbed some bleach and glanced in a mirror on my way out of the cleaning closet. I looked closer in the mirror. The woman looking back was not the same one from a couple of years ago, hell even a month ago. I looked at my cheek. Portman had shoved me pretty hard into the wall, there was only going to be a bruise though, maybe even a black eye. But compared to how hard I hit him wasn't compared. I must have broke his nose because there was an enormous amount of blood. I touched my cheek, it was tender but it would be fine. I walked back to the shower before they would wonder where I was. I gave Duke the bleach, and he poured it on the spot that was now pink instead of red. The reason I stopped John was because this was between me and Portman. He had to learn that I could defend myself without the guys around. He had to learn not to fuck with me. Which I think his face now has the memo.

Out of all of this though the thing that shocked me the most was John's reaction. He would have killed Portman if I wouldn't have stopped him. The guys had never told me how angry he could get. I guess that's why they called him Reaper.


	10. Warning

Once the shower was clean we walked to the infirmary. We stood at the door and stared at the sight in front of us, Portman was laying on one of the beds. The other men had gone off to give their reports, I would have to give mine soon. After lots of convincing on my part, Duke and Destroyer left me with Portman alone. I walked over to the bed, Portman's face was all bandaged up. He was barely conscious.

"Portman, I don't know if you will remember this tomorrow or not, but I am going to do it anyway. I know you know what you did was wrong. Why you did it, I'll never know. You're one dumb ass, motherfucker though. You tried to rape the only woman that was accepted into the RRTS. You're a dumb ass. But I wont file charges cause I know you will never do this again. Ever." I said and walked out of the room. John was standing outside of the doorway.

"Nice speech." he said, sarcastically. "You should file charges you know." he said. I shook my head.

"No, I don't have to. He wont try it again. Trust me." I said. John looked unsure. "OK tell me tough guy, what was the total damage?" I asked with a little attitude.

"You broke his nose in two places, fractured his cheek bone, multiple bruises, possible torn muscles in his shoulder of the arm you twisted and a bite mark." he said sounding somewhat defeated.

"And all I did was kick him in the groin, twisted him arm, and slammed him into the wall. John there is a reason why I am here. It's because I can kick some serious ass with little effort. Portman is just a dumb ass who will never be that dumb, at least with me, ever again." I said. "And if he ever does anything like that to anyone else, I'll chop off his nuts!" I yelled into the infirmary. I could see Portman flinch just a little. I looked up at John as he smiled down at me. I returned the smile and walked to Sarge's office. Knowing he would want to talk to me. I walked in and his back was turned towards the door.

"Hey Sarge." I simply said walking in. I didn't want to get into this at the time but it had to get done with.

"Are you OK solider?" he asked not turning around.

"Yes, sir." I said somewhat shocked at how serious he had gotten. He turned around, I could see in his eyes he was disappointed in his solider, that he was capable of doing such a thing.

"Are you going to press charges?" he asked become more relaxed again.

"No, sir." I said still cautious on how I was suppose to act.

"Why?" he said, tensing back up.

"Because, sir, he was stupid enough to do it in the first place. He now knows what awaits for him if he tries it again." I said. He smiled revealing his freakishly white teeth.

"OK, then." he said and turned back around. I stood there for a moment not knowing whether to leave or stay. The phone started to ring and he answered it. I took that as my que and left. I walked down to the bunks and past out on mine.


	11. Thailand

"Rise and shine Gentlemen! We got a mission." Sarges voice boomed. Everyone was up and alert. We all sat in our beds and looked at Sarge.

"Suit up!" he said as everyone got up. I looked at the clock it was 2 AM, and I was exhausted but this is what a Marine does. Sarge walked over to me as I got out of bed and headed to the locker rooms.

"Maddie are you sure your up to this?" he asked.

"Sarge, your already a man short. You need me." I said.

"Are you physically able to preform the tasks you need to?" he asked.

"Yes, sir." I said and he let me go to the locker room to get suited up. By the time I was done changing, everyone was on their way out the door. I was running behind so I grabbed my bag and ran out the door. The helicopter was up and running and they were waiting for me. The pain in my leg was begging me to stop but I pushed myself to the door. I sat in between John and Goat.

"OK, gentlemen at 0100 hours a Tsunami hit Thailand. I know this is not our norm, but we have been requested, just in case riots break out. Any questions? OK." Sarge said and sat down.

No one said anything and we were off. We flew in silence, somewhat awkwardly.

…...

By 0600 hours (6:00AM) we touched down on Thailand's ground. The sun was beginning to come up exposing the damage that the Tsunami had done. Even through all of my training I had never had to go to a natural disaster area. I had seen pictures on the news of previous ones but nothing compared to what I saw now.

Tree's were blown over, people were screaming, flooding was horrible, the dead bodies of animals and humans floating in the water. It was almost unbearable. We were here to help people and make sure when the riots start, they wouldn't get out of hand.

We walked along what was left of the main road, since it was the only one that was minimally flooded. The water came up just above my boot, I was certain the further you went closer to the beach the deeper it got. We walked through the town, people lined the main road gathering children and loved ones. Some crying not being able to find them. It was so heartbreaking.

"OK men, we will station here." Sarge's voice boomed through the town. I was so distracted, I didn't realized the water level was reduced to a puddle here and there and we were in the center of a 'shopping mall' in the middle of the town. We stood around as Sarge talked to the main person of the town. Don't know what exactly you would call him, mayor, representative, president, head honcho? I don't know.

"Maddie, Reaper, Duke." Sarge said we all ran over.

"You three go and help the wounded the best you can. Ask people of they need assistance and what not." he said. It was one of those laid back missions. I could tell by the way Sarge was acting.

We all nodded and said 'yes, sir' and we were off in the direction we had come. I could hear Sarge barking orders at everyone else. We all had medical training, but the reason he sent John, Duke and I was because John and I had the most and were sent in the worse direction of the damage. Duke came along cause he was close to knowing as much as we did.

We walked back into the coast town. The water level was up to are calves. There were some people standing in the water, trying to move it back into the ocean.

"Sir, can you please go to shore?" Duke said. We couldn't have people hanging around in this water. Soon it would be full of diseases and all sorts of nasty stuff. The man looked up and started talking in the native language. We advised him the best we could to go to shore. He eventually complied.

We looked up and down the area trying to see if there were any other people. It appeared that there was no one else in the water, alive anyway. The sun started to go up and heat up the land. By noon the smell would be horrible. We started from where we found the man in the water and worked our way up. Knocking on each door, evacuating people and asking if they were injured.

As the water lowered down to our ankles, that's when things got interesting.

"Excuse me, we are from the United States Marines, could you please come out of your house for your own safety?" I asked knocking on the door. This was the drill. Duke and I were on either side of the street knocking on every door asking this question. Reaper in the middle of the street in case one of us needed him.

"Hello?" I asked, I didn't get an answer. This was the only house I hadn't gotten an answer out of someone. I looked over at Reaper not sure of what to do.

"Just go on to the next house." he said. I could see the sweat trickling down his brow in the sunlight. It was about 11 o clock, and it felt like it was 120 degrees with humidity. I nodded and was about to go then I heard a crash in the house. I looked back at Reaper, he had heard it too. He walked towards the door and knocked.

"U.S. Marines open up!" he said, his voice booming through that part of town. Still no answer. He took out his weapon and got it ready. He looked at me and nodded. I busted down the door. The smell was the first thing to hit us. There were only two small windows in this house, and about 5 dead bodies. I gagged, not used to the smell, so did Reaper. It was a family, the mother was holding two of her girls still. The father was lying on the ground. The little boy was lying in between the mother and father.

Reaper and I stood in silence, in shock of the view in front of us. The water was at least 5-6 feet at this level, during the storm. They couldn't get out of the windows because they were too small and the door was jammed by the rushing water. They had drowned, trapped in their own house.

Neither one of us moved or said a thing. We were in shock at what we saw. The reality kicked in, we had heard a noise and we came in here to inspect it. I looked at Reaper as he looked at me, we both had confused expressions on our faces. That's when the noise happened again. My attention was kicked back into full mode. We both looked around on high alert we didn't hear anything.

_GGGGRRRRRRRRRRR!_

I heard a noise to the left of me, knowing what the sound was I tensed up. My breathing became eradicated and started to hyperventilate. I slowly looked to my left and saw my worst nightmare. It was someone's pet dog, obviously not a local animal.

"J-J-John." was all I could say, I was so scared of big dogs.

"Just don't move." he said perfectly calm. He moved a little to my side so he could get a better view. That's when I saw another body in the room. The dog had been feasting upon another family member. Once it saw Reaper move it began to growl and snarl. I tensed up even more, with goosebumps running up and down my spin. Reaper began to slowly lift his arm, that still held his weapon. The dog growled even more and moved a step towards us. I didn't even budge. Reapers gun went off with a boom. The Dog went down, he shot him right in the head. My body relaxed a little.

"Contact report!" Sarge's voice boomed through our radios.

"A dog, sir. Appears to be sick, possibly with rabies. Keep a look out." Reaper said, as we both bent down and looked at the dog. I could hear Duke run in and gasp at the sight. Reaper and I just continued to look at the dog. It was an older dog, who had probably swam in here through one of the windows during the flooding. I looked around and saw he probably stood on a cabinet they had and waited for the water to go down. The dog was sick though. He had some sort of red mucous dripping from his jawline, not to mention some white foam.

"Hey, you OK?" Reaper asked as we both looked at the dog. My attention snapped up to him and I looked him right in the face.

"Ya, sorry that I froze, sir." I said. "I don't like dogs." I said in a whisper and looked back down at the dog. I could see him nod in the corner of my eye.

"Neither do I." Duke said under his breath.

"Let's keep going." he said, and stood up. We walked out of the house and closed the door. Duke attached a bio hazard sign, so when the proper people came they would know of the dead bodies.

We continued down the next couple of houses we had left then joined back up with everyone else. We gave Sarge our reports. We now got to stick around and wait for riots to start.


	12. In Trouble with the Boss

It had been a day since we showed up here. We took turns in teams to keep a look out and to get some sleep. It was so hot and the smell of decay had filled the air. I had mainly grown up in the desert regions of the United States but this was hell. The humidity made it so much worse.

On an up side we hadn't seen anymore infected, rabid dogs.

"We have a situation." Destroyers deep voice came through the radios. It was 'my teams' turn to rest. Sarge had us stay in the same groups as yesterday He would be up as much as he could observing, only taking breaks when 'my team' would be up since we had the top ranks. Duke, Reaper and I got to our feet and ran the couple of yards where Destroyer, Goat, Mac, and Sarge were at. By the time we had arrived whatever was going on was over. There was a man sitting on the ground with a bleeding head and another man on the other side of the street yelling at Goat.

"Whats going on?" Duke said.

"This man claimed that, that man had stolen his share of today's food." Mac said shaking his head.

"Sorry, you shouldn't have been called. We thought it was going to break into a riot since all of their families were out here." Destroyer said. We all let out a sigh and stood there. The adrenaline rush of thinking something was up was still pumping through everyone's veins. Sarge was a foot or two down from us talking on a satellite phone to his superior.

I felt a small tug on my pants and looked down to see a little girl standing there.

"Well, hello there." I said and kneeled down to her level. She was a cute little girl.

"Whats your name?" I asked her.

"Isra." she said in a small voice.

"What can I do for you Isra?" I asked.

"Can you help me find my mommy and daddy?" she asked once again in her small voice. She couldn't have been older than five. I stood up and held my hand out to her.

"Sure thing, cutie. Where do you live?" I asked her. The men were all looking at me, wondering what I was doing.

"Hey, guys since you have this 'situation' under control I'm going to help this little girl find her parents. Radio's on." I said to the guys. They all nodded and watched me walk down the street with the little girl.

My heart started to get heavier and my chest started to tighten as we walked closer and closer to the sea shore. Thankfully she stopped and pointed to a house on the left.

"Is it this one sweetie?" I asked as we walked up to a door. She nodded, and I knocked on the door. A big burly man answered the door. I peered in in the crack he was giving me to look in.

"Isra, get your ass in here now!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. He opened the door a little more and she scurried like a scared mouse running from its prey. Then the man slammed the door in my face. From what I saw there was about 3 or 4 other men in there. I backed up off of the porch and stood there facing the house.

"Hey Sarge?" I asked through the radio.

"He's still talking to the supervisor whats up?" It was Duke.

"Somethings not right over here at this little girls house." I said.

"What do you mean?" Reaper asked.

"A big Thai guy opened the door made her go in and there was like 3 other guys in there. Something is not right." I said.

"Don't do anything we will be there in a minute." Goat said. I stood there and only had to wait a couple of minutes until I saw two guys running down to where I was in all black.

"Hey guys." I said.

"This house?" Reaper asked pointing at the house. I nodded. Goat and Reaper walked up to the house and knocked at the door.

"Sir, please open up." Reaper said. There was no answer.

"Sir, if you don't open up, we will break the door down." Goat said. All three of us stood there for a moment. With no luck in getting them to open the door. We moved around so that Reaper could kick down the door. When the door was down we ran to the entry way. Guns pointed and cocked. The people had evacuated the premises. They were gone, leaving a shit load of opium on the kitchen table.

"Holy Shit!" Reaper said, Goat and I just stood there in amazement.

"Opium." I said under my breath surprised I was right that something was wrong. "Where's the girl?" I said a little louder. We heard a bang and turned around. The little girl was in the corner curled in a ball. She was bleeding from her head. One of them probably hit her.

"Isra?" I asked as she looked up to me. She got up and ran to me. I looked up at Reaper and Goat as if to ask what to do.

"Sarge we have a situation here." Reaper said into the radio. Goat walked over to me and Isra.

"Hey sweetie, what happened here?" Goat asked. She buried her head into my leg. I looked up at Goat.

"I don't know what to do." I mouthed to him. I was never good with kids. He shrugged.

"Isra, what happened sweetie?" I asked pulling her off of me and looking her in the eye.

"My daddy and his brothers left. They sell opium so we can eat." she said in her small voice in between sobs. I looked at her head, someone had smacked her hard enough to make her head split open. I nodded to her to prove I was paying attention. I reached around to my medical supplies and began to clean the wound.

"This is going to hurt a little bit honey." I said as I put the alcohol to her head. She winced.

"Where is your mom?" Goat asked. Reaper was still talking with Sarge.

"I don't know." she said in her small voice. I breathed a sigh of relief at least she had a a mother still.

"OK, honey." I said, I looked at her now cleaned wound. It wasn't deep enough for stitches but it did need the stitching tape.

Reaper came over to where Goat and I were.

"So, Sarge is on his way over here. He's not to happy." Reaper said.

"Why?" I asked.

"You'll see." he said. I rolled my eyes and bandaged the girls head up. Sarge walked into the house and saw the Opium.

"I see we have found the countries main dealers for Opium." Sarge said. "Who's she?" He asked referring to the girl I was finishing bandaging up.

"She is the daughter of the drug cartel." I said.

"Maddie, come talk to me outside." Sarge said. I looked at Reaper and then to Goat. I left Isra and them in the house and walked out with Sarge.

"What the hell are you doing solider?" he said sternly.

"My job, sir. Isn't this why we are here, sir?" I asked.

"No, Maddie. We are here to make sure things don't get out of hand. Do you want to be in the RRTS? Because the last couple of months make it seems your just here to stir shit up." he said, Sarge was pissed.

"Sarge, what the fuck is this about?" I asked.

"You have a problem with authority and you don't follow orders." he said.

"I don't follow orders? When the hell have I not followed orders?" I asked.

"Today with this girl-" he started then I interrupted.

"It's our job, sir, to help the ones who need help. She came to me, sir. She needed help to find her parents..."

"And they were found end of story. You think America gives two shits about a little bit of Opium. Leave it be." he said and walked of with me standing there in shock.

Reaper and Goat soon came out. Goat was holding Isra. They had heard everything. Our radios were on the whole time.

"I guess, I'm in the shit hole." I said. "In the words of Sarge drop the kid off with someone who looks like they are stable enough to take care of a kid. Even if they are the drug lords of this town."

"Madison, you need to get a hold of yourself, before you get into deeper shit." Reaper said. I shook my head and walked in the direction Sarge had earlier.

…...

We left Thailand that night.


	13. Goat's Advice

**Hey sorry its been for ever guys. I went back and somewhat re-edited everything. No big changes just some grammer and whatnot. Please review! Thanks to those who have reviewed and added me and this story! Enjoy.**

I sat in the shower stall letting the hot water pound on my back. I was so conflicted on what to do. If I would have taken the Staff Sargent position I wouldn't be in any trouble with the RRTS. I wanted to help the little girl. I know Goat and Reaper did too. I got up and turned the water off and wrapped a towel around myself and at on the bench next to my locker. I wasn't necessarily in trouble with the RRTS just with Sarge, but he was like the head haunch-o.

"You know, I had a hard time for the first couple of months. With following orders especially when they are against my morals and ethics." Goat said as he leaned against the locker column. I looked up at him.

"Hell, sometimes I still do." he said and sat next to me.

"I just- I'm so conflicted. What Sarge said isn't true.. well some of it is. I was about to get promoted to Staff Sargent but chose to come here instead." I said, and sighed. I looked at my hands. "I just don't know if I made the right choice, anymore."

"I think you did." Goat said, looking at my hands and watching me play with my fingers. I looked over at him, some what confused.

"In the last couple of months that I have known you, I haven't known a woman soldier as strong as you. Mentally, spiritually, and physically. Hell you even beat some of the men I know. Including me." he said, I went from confused to just really fucking confused. He rolled up his sleeve on his arm, it revealed dozens of scars that were in a shape of crosses. I looked back up to him then back to his arm.

"Every time I sin. Every time I take the lords name in vain, I add another one." he said. Perplexed I sat there and examined his arm.

"Why?" I asked finally. It took him a moment to finally answer.

"I've done some horrible things. Spent some time in a jail cell. I found faith, and this is how I repent. I don't have the time to go to a priest and sometimes they just don't understand my confessions. Sometimes I cant tell them, regardless if they have an oath not to tell." He tried to explain. He looked as if he was going to give up.

"Its like slapping a child's wrist when they've done something wrong?" I asked and somewhat stated. He looked over at me and saw that he knew I understood. "Your punishing yourself." I finished. He nodded solemnly. Now it was his turn to look at his hands. I shook my head, once again my problems weren't anything. He let out a sigh then looked to me, gave a slight smile then got up and headed towards the door.

"Goat," I started, he turned to face me. "Thanks for everything." I said nodding in approval as I said the words. He nodded his head with a more noticeable smile then exited the bathrooms. I sat there and pondered for the moment. So much had happened in my couple of months here. I had built relationships, been on risky missions, fought with the same people that I eat with... it was defiantly the true life of a marine.


	14. Scars

It had been two weeks since the Thailand mission.

Sarge was back to normal, basing his actions on orders and frustration with the heat. I let it slide knowing I didn't want to deal with it.

Portman was back to normal, well kind of. He was more jumpy now, and he had some new scars and was still healing from the broken bones. Other than that it was just a few fading bruises.

Everyone else seemed to be normal.

I sat in the cafeteria drinking a bottle of water and reading an old book I had found at the bottom of my locker.

Mac and Duke came in and joined me. They were talking about women.

"No, no, no, no. I once met a girl that, I kid you not had her wrist pierced." Duke said. I suddenly became intrigued and put down my book.

"Like how?" Mac asked.

"Like, the surface part it was shaped into a star." Duke said.

"Yeah, they're called surface piercings. They were really popular back in the 21st century." I said jumping into the conversation. They looked at me surprised. "What?" I asked them.

"How do you know that?" Duke asked.

"Well, I liked them and wanted to get my chest done. Just two little diamonds right here." I said pointing to a little bit of skin below my collar bone.

"Damn that would have been sexy. Why didn't you?" Mac said.

"Because she knows how dangerous it is if an infection occurs." John's voice came from the door way. We all turned to face him then they all looked at me for confirmation. I nodded.

"Yeah, not something I wanted to risk." I said taking a sip of my drink. Ever since Portman, John has always been a short distance away. Even if I couldn't see him I knew he was there. It was kind if creeping me out. John came over and sat at the table.

"Did you know that way back when the Amazon people were still alive they pierced their faces?" I said. They all looked at me once again with an amused shock. "They did it as a ritual, religious thing, if I remember right." I said.

"Do you remember looking at pictures of women in the olden days? They had tons of piercings and tattoos. Who would find that sexy? Or cute even?" John said. I loved these talks, it was like guy talk but with a girl in the middle. Goat and Destroyer had walked in to the room and sat down, jumping in on the conversation.

"I have a couple of tattoos." I said. "And I used to have my lip pierced." Once again all the eyes were on me.

"Prove it." John said with an evil smirk. He didn't believe me.

"Fine." I said and got up. I undid my pants and turned around, pulling them down. Revealing my bikini boxer type underwear. "I got this when I was 17 in rebellion to my parents... essentially telling them to kiss my ass. The skull and crossbones are just added flavor." I said showing off the small ruby red lips tattooed on my ass along with a skull and crossbones shadow in the bottom corner of the lips. When I heard the laughs and clapping I pulled my pants back up and buttoned them.

"You said you had a couple?" Mac said. I laughed at his impatience.

"Yes, I did." I said pulling my hair into a pony tail. "You may not see it but there is a name on the back of my neck behind my ear." I said swallowing with grief. "I got it after my best friend died in battle. He was a couple of years older than me. He was caught in a car bombing." I said then smirked when I saw the sorrow in the guys eyes. "I begged that stubborn sonofabitch to not go into the army. I literally got on my knees and begged him. He left me the next day... within a year he was gone." I said holding back past feelings. Everyone was looking either at the wall, the table, or their hands.

"But we all have stories similar to that, its not that special here." I said drinking my water that was almost gone by now.

"Like hell its not." Goat said. "We just don't have something as pretty to remember them." he said rolling up his pant leg. He lifted his leg to the table.

"I ran in front of my buddy the first time we were in battle. He grabbed me and threw me back just before a bomb went off in front of us. I had triggered it and not even known it. He blew into bits and all I got was a torn up leg." he said looking at the dozens of small and large scars on his leg.

"I got this from a sniper in Bangladesh six years ago." Destroyer said lifting his arm revealing a fully healed bullet wound. "Turns out he was my cousin that had turned on his convoy and was ordered to take me out." He looked at the ground before continuing. "I killed him the next day with my bowie knife."

"Well thankfully none of my stories have to do with major scars." John said. "However," he said turning around and moved some hair out of the way so we could see his scalp. There was indeed a large scar. "I did fall once and cracked my head on a rock. Thankfully Sarge was there." he said. We all gave out a weak laugh.

"I haven't been in the service that long and not many missions to have any epic injuries." Duke said, as Mac nodded. We all laughed at that. One of those none of us know specifically why we are laughing but we were. Then Sarge came in.

"What's so funny, men?" Sarge asked in a somewhat serious tone. We all stopped laughing.

"Well, Sarge none of us could probably tell you." Mac said. Sarge's face fell into a smile, showing he was joking.

"Just here to deliver mail." he said handing Destroyer and Mac envelopes. He walked around the table and gave one to Duke then one to me. Like remembering a distant memory that seemed so long ago, I remembered the letter I had sent Joan. With desperation I looked in the left corner for the return address. Joan Smith, I smiled to myself then opened the envelope. I looked at the paper that I had pulled out in shock.


	15. Double Crossing Bitch

"Maddie?" Duke asked looking at my reaction to the parchment in my hands. I ran my fingers over the delicate words. The words that answered everything.

"Maddie?" John asked from across the table a little louder than Duke had. I looked up with the realization I had tears in my eyes.

"Yeah?" I responded. The tears were threatening to fall.

"What is it?" Duke asked getting up from his chair and kneeling next to me. He saw the letter in my hands and swore.

"Sonofabitch." He said.

"What is it?" Goat said.

"Pet-" Duke stared as I interrupted him.

"Pete is marrying my best friend Joan." I said looking down at the wedding invitation in my hands.

"Oh." was the noise most of the men said. They all looked awkwardly around not knowing what to do.

"Well I guess ex best friend." I said with a forced laugh.

"Oh, Maddie. I am so sorry." Duke said.

"Well, here is the fun thing about being a girl. This is not the first or the last time this has happened to me." I said getting up from my chair. Duke stood up not knowing whether to get ready to follow me or to go sit in his chair.

"If its OK with you guys I am actually going to rant this one out since I don't feel like breaking something." I said, they all had wide somewhat scared eyes. They nodded in fear.

"That double crossing bitch! She has been my friend since preschool then she goes for my boyfriend! She's probably been fucking him since I left, god how many years ago? UGH that cock sucking BITCH!" I said kicking my chair. All the guys jumped and looked at me in terror. "You know what? This isn't the first time she's stole him from me. She stole him from me the next day after she found out we had sex for the first time. She 'seduced' him into the corner of a party and blew him. AND I STILL TREATED HER LIKE A SISTER! OH MY GOD! I want to kill her, on her wedding day. The moment she says I do... BOOM. He brains smear all over his face then I go and gut him like the worthless pig he is." I said. The guys eyes widened even more. I took a deep breath then picked up my chair and sat down. I chugged the rest of my water wishing and imagining that it was vodka. "I'll be fine. I'm good now." I said with an exaggerated breath. I smiled at the guys and their faces went back to normal. One by one everyone left, not knowing what to do really. They all said their good byes and sorry's to me as they got up to leave. One would nod, one would make eye contact, and one would pat my shoulder. Before I knew it I was alone staring into the face of John Grimm.

"You really going to be OK?" he asked. I nodded my head finally letting a tear fall.

"Yeah. Like I said I've literally dealt with this kind of thing since 1st grade. She was my last friend that was a girl though. Surprised she lasted as long as she did." I said looking up at him. He looked concerned but understanding. He leaned forward and placed his hand on mine.

"We are your friends now. Who cares about the people on the outside that don't care about us. They're shit. Just ignore them." he said sincerely and left the room. It was cold, the place his hand was. Not the warm feeling most girls get. It was warm while his hand was on mine and now it was cold. I sat there and thought about the mystery of John. He never talked about his family, his friends, his life outside of the Marines.


	16. Africa

**Hey guys I am sorry its taken me so long to upload. Like I said on my profile I'm taking 2 writing classes, one of them is a novel writing class, and they're kicking my ass. But Christmas break is coming up (as in 2 or 3 weeks I believe) so if you could bare with me til then, I will make it up to you all I promise. Anyway I wanted to say something about this chapter. I based it off of Invisible Children, its a real situation that my high school was very involved in. Maddie some what takes my view on the subject a little. If you want to know more google it, the website will pop up... I hope you enjoy and I promise a lot more to come (mostly after the semester is over, then I'll spoil you all :) ) **

**And reviews are always a healthy motivator. :D **

**Much Love xoxoxo**

"We got a mission!" Sarges voice boomed at 0600, our regular wake up time anyway. We all got out of bed like we did every morning except for going to the cafeteria we went to the locker rooms. We packed up and walked to the helicopter.

"OK, History lesson boys." Sarge said as soon as we lifted off the ground. "Anyone learn about the LRA, in high school?" he asked.

"The Lord's Resistance Army?" I asked. He nodded. "Yeah I've heard of them. Joesph Kony the head of the Army back in the 1980's til the 21st century. There were those kids that made that movie trying to expose him. Don't remember what its called-"

"Invisible Children." Goat said.

"Yeah that's it." I said looking at Goat. His face looked sad.

"You know it too Goat?" Destroyer asked.

"Yeah. I know it. I was suppose to kill him... twice. Both times he nearly killed me." He said.

"Anyway, one if his forty two sons, Frank Kony, took the place of him and now his grandson, Joe Kony is now taking the place of dear old granddad. He is almost as ruthless as his grandfather." Sarge said.

"And let me take a wild guess, we are the protection for someone who is going to talk to this Joe Kony and try to debate him out of kidnapping kids and making them be army boys?" I asked. Sarge's eyes widened a little.

"Yes, Maddie do you have something in this that we need to know?" Sarge asked.

"No, sir." I said.

"Then how do you know so much?" John asked, looking at his hands then to me with his marine face.

"I know almost everything about it. My friends were obsessed with talking to the LRA and making peace. I tried to explain that you cant talk to some thing like the LRA, or anything that's led by a dictator. You cant talk to a dictator and explain that they are doing bad things, and make them change. I even told them people tried to do that with Hitler and he didnt listen to them. My friends were found raped to death in Africa a month after they went to talk to them." I said with no sorrow just fact.

"Are you able to do this mission, soldier?" Sarge asked me sternly.

"Yes, Sarge. The day I cant fulfill a mission I will let you know. This was in the past." I said with a smirk. Sarge smiled and continued explaining what our mission was.

"We are protection for the Prime Minister. He is, like Maddie said, going to Joe Kony. Explaining to him that what he is doing is wrong and to stop it. We are to make sure the Prime Minister comes back alive." Sarge said.

"Why are we doing this? This is Parliament shit, not America shit." Portman complained.

"Because we were asked to and we have no other jobs at the moment. So I said yes. Got to keep you boys alert and in shape." Sarge said and sat next to John.

I don't know if it was because I had a personal experience with this situation but I was anxious to get off the chopper. I twiddled my thumbs and waited somewhat patiently. I looked up to see John staring at me, with concern? This made me a little more anxious. He looked away like he wasn't looking at all. I ignored it the best I could but it was almost like a tick. The more I ignored it the more it bugged me. Finally the chopper landed and we spread out. It felt so good to get out into the fresh open African air.

"Sargent Mahonin?" a man asked as he approached Sarge. All he did was nod in approval.

"Glad to finally meet you. I am Abrafo, I am in charge here." he said. Sarge nodded again in understanding, not saying a word.

"Isn't that Ghanaian?" I asked. Everyone looked at me with the same look. It was a cross between how the fuck would you know that and shut the fuck up. The man smiled a moment then nodded his head.

"Yes, it is. How would you come by this knowledge?" he said in a slight accent.

"I tend to surprise people with what I know." I began not wanting to reveal to a total stranger how I knew this information. "My point is we are in the Sudan in the middle of a war. Ghana is on the other side of the continent."

"Aye, you are right. But as you may know people in Africa have a sort of connection." he said somewhat hesitantly. I nodded not knowing what else to do. Sarge was also glaring at me making it hard to concentrate.

"Anyway, let me show you the ropes." he said and walked on with us following behind him cautiously.

"We will camp out here until the Prime Minister arrives within the next day or so." Abrafo said.

"A couple of days?" Portman said back to his same ways.

"Portman, shut up." Sarge said, and nodded to Abrafo to continue.

"Until, then I suggest you get familiar with the land and people. Remember we are in a war zone and not to go to far from the village. Kony's soldiers are ruthless." Abrafo continued.

"So are mine." Sarge said as he nodded to us. We branched off and took a quick look around the perimeter of the small village.

"There is nothing here to do." Duke said as he walked up next to me.

"Use your imagination." I said, he gave me a confused look.

"What?" I asked.

"What do you mean 'use your imagination'?" Duke asked being his sarcastic self.

"Well, get to know people. Learn their ways or something. Its not that hard to keep your mind busy." I said, he rolled his eyes and continued walking down the perimeter.


	17. Prime Minister

**Warning: leaves off on a massive cliff hanger... sorry but I couldnt resist. :) I will upload soon though so dont fret. **

**Thank you for your review WalkingEnigma... it inspired me to put up this chapter :) **

**Enjoy and please review!**

It had been 2 days since we touched down in Africa. I had begun to create relationships with some of the people in the village. Some of the guys were trying but they mainly did manual labor within the village, while the men of the village went hunting. We were ordered not to leave the village for safety reasons. I've begun to grow quite fond of the children in the village. Running around, screaming and well just being kids. They didn't care that they were poor, that they could die any minute from the war or not getting enough food. When I wasn't helping the women of the village gather water and helping them sew new clothes I was playing soccer with the kids.

"Baako, get the ball from Kwabena!" I yelled to Baako, a 12 year old boy. He smiled and went after his friend to retrieve the ball. I never really played with kids but these kids were different. They weren't the spoiled kids back home, they knew the value of things. I looked up and locked eyes with John. He was helping the one of the women bring water to the village. That unfamiliar feeling came to me. There was just something about him that made me feel light, made me feel like I could fly. He smiled at me and I felt like a kid again and looked to the kids in front of me. We began playing again as I tried to forget the eye contact between John and I.

Later that night.

I walked to my tent that I had all to myself. It was nice being alone for the first time in the last couple of months. I settled down on my designated sleeping area and got comfortable. Drifting to sleep I though of John and the way he looked at me. If we acted upon that look the entire mission could be compromised, I had seen that look with Pete before, but I never felt the feeling I had for the last couple of weeks when I saw John.

"Wake up men!" Sarge's voice boomed before a helicopter muted everything out. I must have dozed off because it woke me from a nice nap. I jumped up, put on my jacket and walked out of the tent, almost running into Goat.

"I guess the Prime Minister is here?" I asked him as we walked towards the helicopter, where Sarge was.

"Time to get to work." he muttered barely above the helicopter. We stood behind Sarge and waited for the Prime Minister to get out of the copter. Sarge went up and introduced himself and we escorted him to his 'motor hotel'. It was similar to a motor home, the kind you would have found in old school Hollywood. It was the best this part of the Continent could do. Our job, stand around the trailer home thing, until he woke up, and make sure nothing happens to him. I stood in between Goat and Destroyer in the back part of the trailer. Everyone else stood around, with the exception of Sarge who was talking to the security that had brought him here.

We stood there for hours. I looked at my watch, the glowing numbers glared back at me, 0230 am. This was going to be a long night. We weren't allowed to talk, since it might wake up the Prime Minister. Not for the logical reason that it might attract unwanted attention. I exchanged glances with Destroyer and Goat, having silent conversations. We all stared out into the never ending darkness. I still wondered why John was acting so weird with me. He was but at the same time he wasn't. With a sigh I forced myself to think of something else. I looked out into the dark and thought I saw a light. I looked to Goat and did some hand motions and had him look where I was looking. We stared at the black night and waited for what we didn't want to see, other people. A flash of light and Goat whistled, signaling we had something on our side. Destroyer, Goat and I nodded and cautiously walked towards the flash of light.

"Sarge, we have something on the east side. 01:00- ish." I whispered into the radio.

"As in?" Sarge said, frustrated.

"Possible Kony soldiers. We're checking it out." I said as we kept forward were we believed the soldiers might be. My heart began to pound, becoming more nervous and anxious. The further and further we went into the trees, the more and more we all thought it was a trick of the light. After about 5 minutes of scoping it out we started to give up.

"Looks to be a false call, Sarge." Destroyers deep voice said in the silent air. I heard a small thud, like when you kick a really dense kicking bag at the gym.

"What the hell?" I said in a low whisper.

"What?" Goat asked back on alert.

"Didn't you hear that?" I asked. "Destroyer, did you?" I turned to Destroyer. He was looking at me with eyes wide open in shock.

"Oh fuck." I said as I saw the gun shot wound to his shoulder. He stumbled back a bit and leaned against a tree.

"Sarge, we're pinned. Destroyer's shot in the shoulder, cant make it back to base without being noticed and possibly shot. Cant see where the shot came from." Goat said as he stood behind me. I looked at Destroyers shoulder, it was a direct hit, the bullet went deep in the flesh.

"I cant get the bullet out without surgery or some serious digging. It'll cause too much noise." I whispered to him. The fear of not seeing my attacker was what scared me the most. _Have to keep composure Maddie, freak out later. _

"We're coming." Sarge said.

"Sarge, we might want to think about calling in some backup." Goat said.

"We don't need to." Sarge said.

"We will." Goat said, as I heard a gun cock behind my head.


	18. Ouch

**Keep on reviewing my pretties :D Almost to the part that everyone has been waiting for (I know finally, I'm a mean person) **

My whole body froze at that sound.

"Put your gun down and turn around." a man's thick African voice said. I dropped my gun, so did Destroyer and Goat. Suddenly Destroyer went limp, passing out from the blood loss, yet he was still partially standing against the tree. I held my hands up and slowly turned around. Abrafo stood there, the man that Sarge had trusted.

"Ah, the girl, just what my boys need." he said as he eyed me up and down. Fear, disgust and betrayal made me sick to my stomach. I glanced over at Goat, trying hard not to show the fear. He stood sternly and glared at Abrafo.

"Goat, somebody answer me dammit!" Sarge boomed over the comm. He must have been trying to get a hold of us still, through all of the panic no one had hear him. Abrafo smiled and walked towards me, his goons and child soldiers followed taking steps behind him, always staying the same distance away. I lowered my hands gradually, and let them rest at my sides.

"May I?" he said, as he reached for my radio comm on the side of my face. I said nothing as his hand caressed the side of my face and chin. He grabbed the comm and put it to his face.

"Sargent Mahonin? Nice to talk to you again. Give us the Prime Minister, and we will give you, your soldiers back, mostly unharmed." Abrafo said giving me a smile only the devil could create.

"Abrafo?" Portman said though the comm.

"More like Joe Kony, Abrafo was my younger brother. I killed him and took his name when my name made headlines." he said into the comm.

"Fuck!" Sarge said out loud. He was close enough to us we could hear him.

"Touch Maddie, I'll kill you." John's voice said through the radio. My eyes widened a bit at Johns reaction.

"Maddie? Oh the girl, I forgot you have those little nicknames." he said. I took a deep breath, knowing it was a bad idea, they had to know how close they were to us.

I let out my breath, and breathed in again, psyching myself up for what I was about to do. I looked at Goat and mouth a 'sorry'. He looked confused then he got it. His eyes widened and he shook his head. My hand crept behind my back and to Destroyer's knife, hanging off of his side. Abrafo, well Joe now, said something over the comm and looked at his soldiers and laughed. I breathed in again and charged. As I ran and jumped onto Joe's back I screamed as loud as I could. I let the knife rest on his throat.

"Tell them to put down their weapons." I said in a growl. I could hear Sarge and the boys coming towards us.

"TELL THEM!" I yelled. He motioned with his hand for them to lower them. As one of the child soldiers lowered his weapon it fired three times. Whether it was on accident or on purpose no one will ever know. The bullets hit Goat twice, once grazing his cheek the other hitting his leg. He yelped and went down.

"Happy, love?" Joe asked me with a smirk.

"No." I said stabbing his arm. In anger he elbowed me in the ribs, sending me off of his back and onto the ground. He spun around and kicked the knife out of my hand. His soldiers had their guns back on Goat and I in a matter of seconds. He stood over me, as I stared up at him in shock, he touched his wound on his arm and he glared at me. I gave a closer look at his arm and smiled to myself, I hit the artery I wanted to, he would be dead in minutes.

"What are you smiling at bitch?" he said with venom as he kicked me in the stomach. I curled into a ball as I felt at least one of my healed ribs break upon impact. I gasped for air before he kicked me again, and again, and again. He went to kick me again, but instead he stumbled backwards. I looked up though the pain at him and smiled. He was clearly disoriented and pale.

"That's why." I said as he fell to the ground. "I cut one of the main artery's to your heart." I said sitting up, Goat came behind me and helped me to my feet. I grabbed my gun on the way up. Sarge and the guys showed up and saw the site of Kony on the ground bleeding out and his soldiers standing behind him. I attempted to walk to him but couldn't. I couldn't get any air. I fell back into Goats arms.

"Somethings wrong." Goat said as I gasped for air.

Being the medic before I came into the picture, John ran to my side with a worried look.

"Joe kicked her in the ribs." Goat said as he lowered me to the ground. John took off my vest and ran his hand along my sides. When he touched the broken rib, I gasped in pain, unable to scream.

"Shit, her rib is broken and probably punctured her lung. She needs to get to a hospital now." John said, the pain was becoming unbearable.

"Fuck! Duke, Portman, Mac and I will stay here and fix the situation. Take them to the helicopter and to the hospital." Sarge said looking at his three wounded soldiers. John nodded as he gathered the items that were either Destroyers or mine.

"Are we going to call backup?" Portman asked with his gun aimed at the soldiers.

"Yeah go do that." Sarge said, knowing another team, probably the England team would be here in mere minutes.

"Ready trouble?" John asked me while looking down at me. I smiled a weak partial smile, and gave a small nod.

"OK." He said as he picked me up and carried me to the helicopter. Goat following close behind with a partially conscious Destroyer on his shoulders. Once we got on and strapped in John ordered the pilot to go to the nearest hospital. With a nod we were off. John looked down at me and gave a small smile.

"You'll be OK beautiful. Just rest, we will be there soon." he said as I dozed off in his arms.


	19. Waking Up

**So I'm uber sorry its taken me this long to update. I feel bad, especially since I personally don't like this chapter but its just filler... The next chapter though will make up for my poor ability to update. I know I don't deserve it but please review :D and if you could vote on my poll on my bio thingie profile... Doom part 2 is one of the choices so get on that... I will update more today and a lot more since I really do feel bad that I haven't updated in so long. Love you guys :D **

I woke up inside of a net. Panicked, since the last thing I remember was shooting Kony and being airlifted away, I sat up with a jolt. Pain shot through my side in protest. I groaned and laid back down with my eyes shut firmly to make the pain seem less intense. I opened my eyes, blinking a little to get a better view of my surroundings. There was a window to my left, it was almost dark outside and it didn't look like California. _Are we still in Africa? _I looked over to my right and became very confused. John was sitting in a chair next to my bed, beyond him was Destroyer lying in a bed.

"John." I whispered. He looked uncomfortable sleeping in the chair with his head resting on his hand. I wanted to wake him up and leave Destroyer sleeping, he needed his rest.

"John." I whispered a little louder, he stirred a bit. Becoming more and more frustrated I looked around for something to throw, there was nothing. _I have questions I want answered, dammit! _

"JOHN!" I said in a very loud contained whisper. He stirred awake finally, looking around groggy. When he saw I was awake he shot up and his face lit up.

"Maddie, your awake! I- We were so worried about you. How are you feeling? Can I get you water?" he kept asking questions, his face turning more and more red as he asked each question or muttered an 'I' instead of a 'we'.

"John, I'm fine, water would be great, I have some questions for you, if you would like to join me under this wonderful anti-bug net." I said trying to hide my amusement and with a little sarcasm. He walked off and came back a couple of minutes later with some water and handed it to me. He lifted the bug net, leaving the net open he sat on the edge of the bed. I took a couple of sips of the water, letting the coolness sooth the heat of Africa. I looked him in the eyes, he looked eager, tired and worried.

"Okay, John, tell me what happened." I asked still trying to suppress a smile at the expressions on his face.

"Uh, yeah. After Sarge gave us our orders, take you, Destroyer, and Goat to the hospital, he called in backup. Kony died before the Europe team showed up. Goat and Destroyer have already woken up- what?" he asked as I started to giggle and smiled. He wouldn't even make eye contact with me while he talked.

"Nothing." I said still smiling. I couldn't help it, he was acting like a teenager, flustered and unable to contain it.

"Why are you smiling?" he asked again, confused.

"You called me beautiful." I said remembering everything before I passed out. His face went beet red, he opened his mouth to speak then closed it. He got up and left the net and walked out of the room. I chuckled at his embarrassment. I laid my head down on the pillow and stared at the ceiling. It was a wonder with modern technology why Africa was so far behind. They always had been but they still were. My thoughts switched gears and went to John. I knew he liked me and I was doing exactly what I had done with boys that liked me in grade school through high school. I watched them fumble in embarrassment and walk away. If they came back without the same embarrassment they would get a date, other wise they didn't. My friends and my mother always told me I was intimidating, that was the reason why guys acted they way they did around me. Being the cute hard ass I was it was a wonder I ever got a date.

"Hey Maddie." Sarges voice boomed lightly from the doorway. I lifted my head up and smiled to him.

"Hey Sarge." I said as he walked closer to the tent bed.

"If this keeps happening every mission, were going to have a problem." he said with a smile on his face to show he was kidding, but I wondered how much of a joke it really was.

"Yeah, I know its starting to get old." I said trying to sit up.

"Doc says you re-broke your ribs, just stay still." he said as he sat in the chair where John was before.

"So, Whats up, Sarge?" I asked wanting to know why he was here, other than the obvious.

"Maddie, what you did was very brave- and very stupid." Sarge said as he gazed at me.

"Sarge, I understand your concern but you sound like a parent. Not a solider. I had to do what needed to be done. I was in the position to do so, so I did it. That's how I was trained, it's what I do." I said becoming frustrated with these little talks with Sarge.

"When are we going home?" I asked trying to change the subject.

"Today, we were waiting for you to wake up." he said as he got up taking the hint. "I'll leave you to get ready." he said as he walked out the door, I sighed in frustration. I got up to my feet, trying to ignore the pain in my ribs and got dressed in my uniform. The bandages around my midsection made my shirt look too small. As I got ready to walk out of the room Destroyer rustled awake.

"Well, look who's walking around." He said as he saw me trying to escape. He sat up slowly and sat against the wall.

"Hey, sleeping beauty. We're getting ready to go." I said with a smile and throwing him his jacket. As I was about to turn to go out the door he spoke up.

"Thanks, Maddie. I mean it. You really know how to take control of a situation, even if that means a little bit of blood and some bruising. I haven't seen many men act the way you do under stressful situations. I admire that about you." he said as I looked down at my feet. I looked back up sure that my cheeks were at least pink from the compliment. I smiled and nodded.

"Thanks D. That's what I really needed to hear." I said with a bigger smile and then walked out of the room.


	20. You Waited 3 Months?

**As promised a better chapter than the last one... and as said before if you could vote on my poll I would be greatly appreciated... And of course review... this is the chapter I know the majority of you all have been waiting for so enjoy ;) xoxoxoxo**

It had been a month since the Africa mission. Ever since the mission ended, Sarge was quite and standoffish towards me. Goat and Destroyer were please with the situation and the way things went down, even if it resulted in them getting hurt. John, well, John had been somewhat ignoring me, well rather avoiding me. I would walk into a room and he would make up an excuse to get out. He was either really embarrassed about the situation that happened in Africa, or he was just falling hard for me. I don't mean to sound cocky but I was used to this sort of thing, but mostly from computer nerds that never bathed. They're human too don't get me wrong but they were easier to ignore, rather than a pretty damn hot Marine. But this little charade of his was getting on my nerves.

"Hey Maddie, are you going to come run laps with us?" Duke asked as he was tying on his running shoes. I stood up and touched my side, a little bit of pain shot through my midsection.

"Not today. Think I'm going to go lift weights and make it a little stronger. At least the muscles around it so it doesn't break easier." I said. Ever since my last broken rib stint everyone decided to let me slide by on the running and some of the other exercise's, not wanting to make the bones weaker, or not heal properly. Duke nodded and was about to run out the door, but not before he playfully hit me and made me fall onto my bed. I glared up at him as he gave his infamous smirk and jogged out the door. I got up and walked to the gym. Everyone was out running laps giving me a little one on one with the equipment. I walked in and sat at a bench. I grabbed a 20 lb. weight and began to lift it up with one hand over and over again, then with the other hand. I set it down and got up walking to the pull up bar. Not sure if I should attempt to do a pull up with my rib situation I stared at the bar as if it was growing something around it, weighing the consequences.

"Don't even think about it." A very familiar voice said from the doorway of the gym. I spun around to see John standing there.

"I was just thinking about it, I wasn't actually going to do it." I said, ignoring the fact that these were his first words to me in a month.

"Yeah, right." he said as he walked to the gym storage room carrying a bunch of nets. I looked at the nets then up at him. "Some kids left them on the outside of the building. Sarge wanted me to bring them in." he said. I shook my head acting like I actually cared, I was actually surprised he was talking to me. As soon as he opened the storage room door I walked over to it, trapping him inside.

"Okay, since I have you trapped, you have no choice but to hear me out." I said as I leaned against the door. He spun around and rolled his eyes.

"Fine." he said bluntly.

"I don't know why you have been ignoring me for the last month but its got to stop. We're suppose to be a team. Now I know what happened in Africa was- well- different but-" I said as I was interrupted by John rushing towards me and crashing his lips to mine. Shocked, it took me a few seconds to realize what he was doing before I could react. My lips began to move against his as I melted into the kiss. His hands began to roam around as well as mine. I found the end of his shirt and pulled it up over his head. He repeated the same action to me. We continued to kiss as he unbuttoned my jeans and lifted me onto a shelf that once held the nets he had just brought in. The kissing became more passionate and was soon forgotten in a world that John and I were slowly creating.

…...

"Shhh! I think I hear someone." I said as John and I stood against one another laughing and breathing deeply. When the noise turned out to be nothing we continued to chuckle at our sneakiness.

"So, how long have you been waiting to do that?" I asked him. He smiled and kissed my lips.

"For a couple months now. Probably ever since before Thailand." he said as he began to kiss my neck.

"Nice going, Reaper." I said. "How long before?" He gave me a frustrated look. "What I am a girl after all. I like to know these things." He sighed and opened his mouth a couple of times.

"I started to want you, around the time you were healing from Burma." he said looking down. I looked at the wall behind him trying to calculate the amount of time that had gone by. My eyes widened and I looked at John.

"3 months?" I said in shock. "You just barely met me!" He rolled his eyes.

"I didn't act upon it now did I? And I am a guy after all." he said mocking my tone from before. I rolled my eyes and kissed his lips.

"I'm going to go take a shower." I said as I gathered my clothes and put them on haphazardly.

"Can I join you?" he asked as he put his pants on. I laughed.

"You just rocked my world and your asking to do it again?" I asked. He gave my a sly look and a small smirk. "Fuck yeah, you can." I said as we chased each other to the shower stalls.


	21. Mexico

**Hello my friends. I am sorry it's taken so long to update and whatnot. I might be a little off and on with the updates, going to school full time and working 2 part time jobs is a beeach. Anywho, I appreciate the reviews I have been getting. Thank you to those people. Um... I wanted to also say something that I should have probably stated a long ass time ago. By no means do any of my events that happen in the story mean I dislike, have prejudice, or like to pick on certain people and/or events. Yes, a lot of the missions they go on are based off of modern events but by no means am I being the things I stated before. They are purely coincidental and if I offend you, you have my deepest apologizes. They just happen on the news and its something that would make a good mission in my mind for my story, they don't express my views on the matter either. OK on with the story and enough with the blabbering. **

After yesterdays events John and I were trying not to act different, flirty, around each other._"If Sarge finds out we're both fucked."_ John's words echoed though my mind. Sneaking around was harder than I had remembered. When Pete and I had to sneak around my parents for the first couple of months since my dad didn't approve of any man for me. He only approved him after Pete started believing his lies.

"Yo Maddie!" Duke said as he was trying to have a conversation with me. I looked over at him innocently. "Whats on your mind? You've been so distant today."

"Nothing." I answered back a little to soon. He gave me a disbelieving look. "Fine, I'm just thinking of Pete and how he could believe my fathers lies, like he did. And now he's marrying Joan, who was suppose to be my best friend." I some what lied to him. He nodded his head believing it. I let out a small sigh in relief.

"Running laps, Sarge wants us all out there. That includes you Maddie!" Destroyers voice boomed through the building.

"OK!" I yelled back in a mock tone. Duke and I got up and changed as fast as we could and ran outside and began running laps. This gave me more time to think about everything. We hadn't had a mission for a little over a month and it was kind of nice. If I remembered right leave was coming up in the next couple of months, probably 2 or 3 months from now. I wondered if John and I would spend our leave together. I sure as hell wasn't going home, especially since the wedding was during the same time as the break. I wondered how my mom was doing. I hadn't written or talked to my parents since I found out about Pete and Joan. I looked around to see who was around me. Duke and Destroyer were running in front of me. In front of them was Goat, John and Portman. Mac was behind me jogging, I could tell he really didn't want to run at all. But Sarge was no where to be found. I could see John looking back at me as he jogged or could make it look like he was checking on me. When in reality he was checking me out.

"MEN WE HAVE A MISSION!" Sarges voice boomed through the yard. We all ran from our position on the field to the door. I rolled my eyes, it seemed like yesterday we had come back from Africa.

We ran to the locker rooms and rinsed off the sweat we had all accumulated and got dressed. We all headed out to the helicopter without word. Sarge was standing by the helicopter that wasn't on. We all slowed down to a stop in front of Sarge as he moved to the right of us towards a black van. We all looked at each other this being a new move and filled the one van.

"We're going to Mexico. We need to help the Sheriff try and get the drug war under control." Sarge said in the passengers seat in front of us.

"Oh, this is great." Duke said under his breath. Sarge gave him a disapproving look and went on.

"As you well know the drug cartel have been around for centuries now. They have the most power in the country, which deems them the leaders. Law enforcement is zilch to these people. This is our man, Eduardo Ramirez. He is currently the head of the cartel and is looking to take out Sheriff Christina Flores." Portman whistled when he saw the picture of the female. We all gave him our own personalized 'Really Portman? You such a pig' looks.

"Relax for the hour or so ride. When we get there it will be a machete and machine gun war." Sarge said as he settled into his seat. I looked down at my hands, when I looked up I locked eyes with John. He have me a hidden smirk then looked away. I looked back to my hands and waited the long agonizing hour to Mexico.

…...

We had no problem getting through the border security since they has called us. We rolled on in, Sarge was giving the driver some directions. John and I kept stealing glances of each other and trying to hide the smirks that we had.

"Alright men, I want Goat, Mac and Maddie to go to the right and get a visual of whats going on. Reaper, Portman, and Duke go to the left. Destroyer, we're going to go straight and see what we can see. Coms up and lets get goin." Sarge said before he opened the van door.

We all jumped out of the van, guns at the ready and ran in the direction we were told while forming into formation. The streets were crowded with protesters. The sheriffs building was just in sight of where the van had dropped us off.

"Maddie, left." Goat said behind me. I looked over to my left and saw a woman who looked almost identical to the sheriff hanging from a pole.

"It's not Christina." Mac said coming up to my left.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Christina is approximately 5' 6", that woman is 5' 4"." he said looking at the dangling woman in front of us.

"Find something?" Sarge said over the com.

"Yeah a woman hanging that looks identical to Flores." Goat said.

"We found the same thing." Reaper said with distaste.

"Same. Keep a watchful eye on Maddie." Sarge said. I looked up at Goat with a confused look. He gave a nod behind me. As I turned around I saw three men walking toward us with guns.

"Sometimes I wish I wasn't a woman." I said as they walked closer and closer.


	22. They Know Each Other

**Hello my little darlings. You should feel special, another update so soon? I'm surprised myself. What can I say.. I love you guys and the reviews you leave me. :) Oh on a small not just a reminder my poll is still up, if you could go vote that would be grand. :) And review of course. Much love. **

"Goat?" I asked as I looked around seeing more men corner us. "Goat?"

"What?" he yelled as he looked around at the men, deciding what to do. He looked down at me with no answers.

"Um, Sarge." I said into the com.

"Maddie?" he asked.

"We have a situation." I said as I backed up to the building. "About a dozen or so men closing in."

"What's your position?" Sarge asked now on alert. I looked around and had no sense of direction.

"Maddie, what is your position?" Reaper demanded. I took out my handgun. Goat and Mac watched me fire a single shot into the air. The men held their guns out and prepared to fire as one of the men went down.

I looked over and saw Sarge and Destroyer coming from the right firing at the men.

"Come on!" Sarge yelled at us. We ran in his direction as he told everyone through the com to meet at the station. The men behind us began to fire more and more following us to the station. Once we were all inside, including Duke, Reaper and Portman we panted for air as we walked up the stairs to find the sheriff.

"You okay?" Reaper came to my side and asked with worry in his eyes. I nodded still struggling to breath. He nodded and walked forward.

"Sheriff Flores?" Sarge asked not gasping for air. Acting like this happened everyday of his life.

"Sargent Mahonin." the woman said with a smile of recognition. She approached Sarge a little awkwardly.

"Great." I said under my breath catching the attention of Mac. He looked over at me with a questionable glance.

"Sarge knows her." I said. Mac had the same expression on his face. "They slept together, Mac." His eyes widened as we went back into professional mode and payed attention to the Sheriff.

"Here's the problem. They want me dead, if that wasn't obvious enough. They don't like that I am trying to stop the drug traffic from here to the U.S. Since it is a big part of how we get our money." She said as she walked over to the window cautiously. She stood by the edge so she could see out but no one could see her.

"See that building all the way out there in the middle of that intersection. It looks better than this building." she said pointing to the west and down a ways. She looked back at Sarge almost oblivious to the rest of us standing there.

"That is where Ramirez lives." She said as she looked behind Sarge finally.

"This is your team? This is the RRTS?" she asked. I could feel all the guys next to me tense up. "I've seen this man wipe out army's without lifting a finger. There's what 8 of you? You're all going to die."

"First off, we aren't the army we're the marines. Second, we don't care what has happened in the past. Third, you ever offend my men again you will be wishing you were one of those women hanging from the light pole outside." Reaper said with Venom. She laughed in his face.

"Your men? Your men? I though Mahonin was the Sargent of this group." she said with venom back. Reaper got closer to her and looked like he was going to snap.

"Excuse me." I said pushing past Reaper, Duke and Goat. I stood next to Sarge. "I know you think you are the Sheriff of this broke down capitol." I began as she almost interrupted me. "If you interrupt me I will feed you to these dogs that want you. Listen lady, you called us, if you don't think we are equip to handle the job then we'll leave your sorry ass here. Make a decision and fast." I looked down at her even though we were close to the same size, me being maybe a few inches taller. She glared daggers at me then looked up to Sarge.

"Your team seems to not know where they stand." She said. I lurched forward to punch her out of frustration when Sarge grabbed me by the waist.

"Maddie." he said sternly as a father would. I threw myself out of his arms and walked back to where I was before. Heat radiated off of me despite the hotter air, I was furious.

"Breath." Duke said next to me with a huge smile on his face.

"I hate bitches like her." I said. Duke let out a low chuckle.

"When two bitches collide the world spins." he said. I hit him in the shoulder out of anger and playfulness.

"What's Portman's problem?" I asked seeing Portman standing and barely breathing.

"Hot woman in the room. He's unable to make his crude comments." Goat said with amusement. "It happens every now and then." I rolled my eyes and looked at Sarge talking to Flores. The looked like an old couple arguing about what they should do.

"This is ridiculous." I said.

"Yeah it is." Goat said looking at the two bicker.

"Men, lets go." Sarge said suddenly surprising everyone. He walked towards the exit behind us.

"Rick, go to the meeting spot, were out of here." Sarge said into the com to the van driver.

We walked in formation lines to the van on high alert. Amazingly we were on the van on the way back to America without a hitch.

"Sarge, what exactly just happened back there?" Portman asked, never knowing when to shut up.

"Portman, Shut up." Sarge said as he looked intently at his gun.

"She was one damn fine woman. I don't understand why we ain't help-" Portman continued.

"Portman, Shut up!" everyone but Sarge said. It was quiet the rest of the way to the base.


	23. At Least It Should Have Been Quiet

At least it should have been quiet all the way to the base.

_POP!_

A loud sound came from outside and the van came to a halt.

"What the fuck?" Sarge said already in his bad mood and went outside with the driver leaving the door open.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he said aloud. "Men, out of the car. We got a flat tire." We all looked at one another for a moment before filing out of the van.

"We're the damn marines we don't get flat tires." Portman muttered.

"How long will it be til we're going again?" Reaper asked the driver.

"About a half an hour, give or take twenty minutes." He said, Reaper nodded. We all began to sit on the side of the dirt highway in Mexico.

None of us said much, save for Portman letting out obscenities and complaining about how we got a flat tire. Which did make for a good question. I got up from my makeshift seat and walked along the road from where we came from. I couldn't see anything on the ground that could've popped the tire. I walked back over to the van to inspect the tire. The driver, Rick, was hauling out the spare from under the van.

"Rick," I began turning to him. "How old are these tires?" I asked.

"Brand new, hell these vans are brand new. I don't know what happened." he said as he crawled out from under the van with the tire. I looked closer at the van, black powder coated around the edge next to the tire.

"Sarge, we got a problem." I said. Reaper was at my side in seconds.

"Shit!" he said before walking away. Sarge walked over to see what had pissed Reaper off.

"Our tire was shot." I said pointing to the gun powder residue.

"Fuck." he said spinning around gun at the ready. All of the men now were on high alert guns cocked and ready to shoot anything that moved. But silence was the only thing to great us. The occasional cricket and hawk would make a noise but other than that complete silence.

"Rick hurry with that tire, will ya?" Goat said we were all up against the van. Figuring if they were behind us they wouldn't see us. If they were in front of us, then we better see them first.

"Almost done." he said before we heard a splat sound. We all spun to Rick, blood covered the part of the van.

"Holy shit!" Portman said backing away from Rick.

"It's in front of us." Reaper said calculating the shot.

"Somebody continue to fix the tire." Sarge said. Mac ran over and took off the old tire and began to put on the new tire.

"Where the hell is he?" Duke said looking around. I felt like a rabbit getting shot at for target practice.

"There." I said seeing a flash of light.

"Where?" Sarge asked.

"There." Destroyer answered. "About 2 o clock." he said. Looking through the scope on his rifle.

"Sarge?" I asked as saw the guy through my scope.

"Not yet. Everyone lock on to him. I want this fucker dead." he said. We all looked into our scopes and the man out in the desert, yards away. Stood up.

"Now!" Sarge said and we began shooting. The man fell to the ground and three more rose.

"Shit!" Duke said as we continued shooting the people. They shot back hitting the van behind us.

"AH!" Reaper said as he stopped shooting and went down. I looked over with worry on my face, then remembered I was the medic for this team.

"Not now, Maddie." Sarge said. "Keep firing." When we were sure all of the people where dead, Duke got in the drivers seat and we piled into the back and were on our way. I looked at John's wound in the back of the van.

"How do you feel?" I asked him.

"Like I got shot." he said scrunching his face in pain as I tore the sleeve off his shirt.

"The bullet didn't hit much. At the most I'd say this was a graze." I said as I began to clean the wound. John watched me the entire time I cleaned and patched up his wound. I gave him a glance every now and then.

"There you go. I think you'll live." I said as I began to put the medical supplies away.

"Anyone else hit?" I asked. Everyone shook their heads no. I sat in the seat across from John, stealing glances.

"20 minutes to home." Duke said. We all looked at our watches and then to our surroundings. No way we could be back in Cali and in our base in 20 minutes. This day we would find out those video games Duke played he mostly played racing games and he hardly ever got to drive in reality.


	24. That Was Close

**Kinda short but you'll live. Keep the reviews coming, I absolutely love it when you guys review.**

20 minutes later

We walked into our building silently. This had been an exhausting day, even if the actual job we were sent on was a fluke. We took off our gear and placed it in out lockers then hit the showers. The water felt so good against my skin. Washing away the desert chaos. Everyone got dressed and either hit the gym, or went to bed. I sat on my bed thinking about the day's events and hearing Mac snoring lightly a couple bunks down, when my stomach began to rumble. With not much of an argument, I was kitchen bound. I realized I hadn't eaten much all day. I walked over to the fridge and took out some jam and bread. I began to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"Hey, there." a familiar voice said. I turned and saw John standing in the door frame smiling at me.

"Hey." I said. "Want one?" John walked over to me.

"I want something else." he said, "maybe after though." I smiled as he leaned in for a kiss. I put the peanut butter covered knife on the counter and placed my arms around his neck. He lifted me up onto the counter.

"John." I asked weakly. He let out a _MMM. _"Should we do this here?" I asked between kisses, not really caring about the out come. I heard muffled voices, and pushed myself off the counter and pushed John away from me as Duke and Destroyer walked in. I continued to make sandwiches like nothing had happened.

"Hey guys do you want one?" I asked trying to act like I always do.

"Sure." they said as they sat at the table and brought John into the conversation.

"Leave is coming up soon." Duke said.

"In a month or so." John said.

"So, what are you planning?" Duke said.

"Dude it's in a month. I don't plan that far ahead." John said.

"I'm going to the beach." I said jumping in. "Gonna work on my tan." I said placing the sandwiches on the table. Duke and Destroyer let out a low whistle.

"Can we come?" Duke asked slyly. I laughed at his ability to hit on everyone.

"If you can keep it in your pants." I said taking a bite out of the sandwich.

"Damn girl." he said shaking his head.

"I think I'm going to propose to my girlfriend." Destroyer said. We all looked up at him like he was growing a third eye.

"Really?" Duke asked.

"Congratulations man!" I said slapping his shoulder.

"She hasn't said yes yet." Destroyer said laughing his deep laugh, finishing off his sandwich.

"Well, then good luck to ya." I said with a laugh as he got up and walked out.

"Thanks guys." he said and left. Duke finished off his sandwich and was about to walk out to before he stopped behind John.

"Oh, Reap my man. You got peanut butter on your neck." He said with a sly smirk and walked out of the room. John and I stared at each other like a bomb had just gone off.


	25. One Oh Shit Moment After Another

**Here is a big long chapter for you guys! Thanks for the reviews and I'm so glad you are liking the story. It's getting close to the end though. Bittersweet moment. If you are interested please vote on my poll on my profile page. :D and review of course. XOXOXO**

It had been a week since the Mexico incident. Sarge was acting different than usual probably had something to do with the Flores woman. When asked he would tell us to shut up and leave him alone. John and I hadn't been avoiding each other but we had made sure to be more sneaky, meeting each other in the middle of the night or making sure everyone was outside doing laps. After the peanut butter incident we were on high alert. Duke had a smile on his face every time he saw John and I together, which made me believe that he knew of our secret get together.

"Shit." I said as I looked at the calender.

"What's up Maddie?" Destroyer said. I turned around not even knowing he was behind me.

"Oh just this stupid, leave. I want it now." I said lying.

"I know how you feel girl." he said as he walked over to his bunk and got a new pair of socks. He took off the old ones and put on the new. "The time will go by fast." he said jogging off to the weight room.

I looked back at the calender again.

"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit." I said over and over again. I had missed my period. _Fuck how are you going to tell John? How are you going to test yourself? Wait what the hell are you going to tell Sarge?_

"Fuck!" I yelled and got up. I looked around for John. I found him in the kitchen and ran up to him.

"Hey, whats wrong?" he said placing his hands on my shoulders.

"John, we have a problem." I said not knowing if I was about to cry, scream, or hit myself for being so stupid.

"What's wrong? What happened? Did Portman do something?" he asked. I shook my head and gave out a small laugh at the Portman comment.

"No, I missed my- uh- yeah." I said. As soon as the words I-missed-my came out of my mouth John's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head. He shut his eyes then opened them wider.

"Well, do you know for sure?" he asked. I looked up at him with a 'really' look.

"John, I may be a medic but I'm not a genius. I cant draw my blood or pee in a cup and magically know. There are no tests here since this isn't suppose to happen." I said. He closed his eyes again and placed his forehead against mine.

"We'll figure this out, okay babe?" he said as he placed his hands around my waist. He moved to kiss me.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Sarge said standing in the doorway with everyone behind him. My entire body froze and tensed as soon as Sarge came into the room. John had let go of my waist.

"Hell yeah." Portman said, all sweaty from working out, behind Sarge. Sarge turned and gave him a look that made Portman walk away.

"You two, my office. NOW!" he yelled. I looked over at John and the blood had run from his face. We walked to Sarges office behind Sarge like we had gotten into a fight at recess and we were going to the principals office.

"Sit." was all Sarge said as we entered his office. We sat in front of him and held our breath not knowing what was going to happen. Normally one or both of the soldiers involved would have to leave or go to a different squad. Sarge sat with his hand on his chin, obviously in deep thought. We sat awkwardly for about 2 minutes before Sarge finally spoke.

"How long?" he asked.

"About a week and a half." I said. He looked over at me with one eye brow raised and the other one normal.

"Not very good at hiding it are we." he said.

"Actually, we only started sleeping together a week ago." John said. Sarge looked at him with venom.

"You'll talk when spoken to. I need soldiers not lovers. Do you two understand the gravity of the situation?" He said looking back and fourth at each of us.

"How long John?" he asked, knowing what he was saying.

"Since she got here." John said and looked at the ground and then at me.

"Maddie?" Sarge asked.

"Yes?" I asked not knowing what he wanted me to say.

"Same question." he said.

"I don't know. I guess since I got here. Off an on since then, with the degree of feelings." I said. I saw John whip his head around to me with almost an offensive look.

"What? You can be an ass." I said. We went back to the silence. Sarge was contemplating what he was going to do. I could tell by the way he was looking at the ground.

"Fine. Here's what we are going to do. Since you two are my best soldiers I will take this to the higher ups and talk about it. Meanwhile you cant see each other. Maddie your going home until Monday. 3 days is all it should take. John you will stay here since you are higher rank." Sarge said with a little bit of smug in his voice. "Maddie you have a half an hour before transport gets here."

John and I sat there not moving. I looked up at him as if to question what I should do. He gave me a slight nod.

"Sarge?" I said in a small voice. I cleared my throat as he turned around, with his eyebrow raised he gave me the go ahead to continue talking.

"This situation is more complicated." I said looking at him. Both eyebrows raised.

"How?" he said. I looked over at John.

"I- uh- I'm late." I said looking up at Sarge. He let out a sigh.

"You have the same amount of time. Go to the doctors, find out for sure. Call me as soon as you know. I will come and pick you up on Monday to discuss whether or not you will be on this team." Sarge said as he handed me the number to get a hold of him. I nodded and walked out of the office and down the stairs to my bunk. I packed in silence almost as if I wasn't really there.

"Maddie." John said standing behind me. I stood up and looked over at him with a smile.

"Yes?" I asked.

"It's going to be OK." he said as he closed the space between us.

"Hopefully it will." I said looking up at him with a smile. "Don't worry about it, I wont either. Just focus on the task at hand." He nodded as I continued packing. A horrifying thought hit me and I began to laugh.

"What?" John asked, as Duke and Goat walked into the room. I stood up and looked at all three of the men. A tear fell down my face with my smile.

"I just realized I have to go stay with my parents. They're currently helping plan Pete's and Joan's wedding. Oh this is going to be fun." I said as I put my bag around my body.

"How do you know?" Duke asked.

"I know my demented parents. And come on. With my luck they're staying there in my room." I said.

"Well boys, hopefully you will see me soon. If not its because I'm in jail, pregnant or both." I said as I kissed Duke's and Goat's cheeks. "Tell the others bye for me." I said as I looked over at John and he followed me out the door. We stood out in the room I stood in when I first came here. I set my bag down on the seats and looked up at John.

"John. I don't want to fairy tale this moment but don't freak out about this. I'm not sorry for what has happened." I said looking up at him. His face was still in the shock mode that it was before. "This has been one of the happiest times of my life. Being here with the RRTS and with you." I heard a car pull up outside.

"Bye John." I said as I stood on my toes and kissed him. He kissed me back and watched me walk off without saying a word.

_Transport my ass this is a damn taxi. _I said as I opened the door and threw my luggage in. I turned around to John and smiled as I got into the car. He still had that shocked look on his face.

"Where to?" the driver said.

"The nearest hospital please." I said as he began to drive. I watched John still stand there staring at me as we drove off.


	26. Who is Dr Sam Grimm?

The taxi dropped me off at the hospital. I walked to the front counter at the entrance.

"Hi, I don't have an appointment but I need to see a doctor." I said.

"Ma'am, you cannot see a doctor without an appointment. That's what clinics are for." the woman said. Having the day that I have had already, I just sighed.

"Fine then, where is the nearest clinic?" I asked. She pointed down the hall. "It's part of the hospital?" I asked. She nodded and went back to her work.

With a low growl I walked off in the direction she pointed. Passing dozens of people and walking through 2 or so hallways I found the clinic.

"Hi, I need to see a doctor." I said. The woman looked up at me with a faux smile.

"And what is it concerning?" she asked.

"I think I'm pregnant." I said. She nodded and gave me a sheet to fill out. I handed it back to her.

"OK the doctor should be out shortly." She said. I turned and looked around it looked like a typical doctor waiting room. I sat on a chair near a side table and waited. I looked down at the table, dozens of magazines covered the table. _Time 2.0_, _Archeology weekly_, _Sports Weekly_, and some entertainment magazine. I reached for the _Archeology weekly_. I was always interested in the past and history. I flipped through the pages until one caught my attention. The archeology that was going on off world territories. Mars, to be more specific, Olduvai. There was a picture of a woman in the corner of the article that caught my attention. I read the quote under the picture.

_"We need to find everything out that we can up here on Mars. Given the archaeological digs are more dangerous here then they are on earth but we need to find out what went on." Dr. Grimm says. _

My breath caught in my throat. Dr. Grimm? She looked like a blonde woman version of John. Same eyebrows. I tore the article out of the magazine, as the doctor called my name, I shoved it in my bag. Who was this Sam Grimm?

"Well, Ms. Jones. Seems like this was a false alarm." The doctor said as she brought in the results. I let out a sigh and got my coat.

"Thank you so much." I said as I shook the doctors hand. I walked out of the hospital and called the number Sarge had given me before I left.

"Hey Sarge, It's Maddie. False alarm. No mini me. Talk to you later I suppose." I said leaving him a message and hung up.

I looked around and felt the heavy weight of going home. I dialed a number on my phone.

"Hey, mom. Can you come pick me up?" I asked.

"Sure honey. Where are you?" she asked not even questioning why I wasn't at work.

"The hospital." I said and waited for the retaliation.

"What! Why are you there? Are you OK?" she panicked.

"Yes mom. I'm OK just come and get me. I'll explain everything." I said.

"OK I'll be there in a jiffy." she said and hung up. I sat on the curb and waited for my mom to come and get me.


	27. Parents are a Pain

**Ready to meet the parents? I'd like to thank my reviewers especially xXTreeHuggerXx and azuresilver you guys are amazing... hell you are all amazing! I love you all so much... not meant to sound creepy at all... :D Keep up the reviews guys! and enjoy**

The ride home was all my mother talking about the wedding between Pete and Joan. Completely oblivious to the fact I was her daughter and that Pete was my ex. She was suppose to be on my side. I stepped out of the stupid hybrid car and looked at my old home. Nothing had changed about it. I grabbed my bag and walked to the door behind my mother. I walked in, wedding stuff was everywhere.

"Honey, Madison's home!" my mother called out as we walked into the house. My dad came out from the kitchen to greet us.

"What did you do Madison?" he said as he shook my hand.

"What makes you think I did something?" I asked with a little venom.

"Well, you're here and not and the Marine base or whatever. Why?"

"Long story. I'm just here for the weekend. Sarge said I needed a break." I lied. No way in hell I was going to tell them now why I was here.

"OK." he said and walked off. I looked over at my mom as she sat back on the couch and watched her show.

"Home sweet home." I muttered to myself.

After setting my stuff in my old room, that thankfully didn't have a naked Joan and Pete in it, my family had dinner. We sat awkwardly at the table, in the seats we designated our own.

"You're coming with me to work tomorrow." my dad said. I looked up at him.

"Okay. Why?" I asked.

"I remodeled and hired a bunch of new people." he said. "It would be nice if you could meet them all." I couldn't help but roll my eyes and look down at my plate of food. This was the most miserable I have ever been.

"Fine." I said. _Hopefully Mary is still your secretary. She is the only person I can stand._ Silence greeted us again before my mother started back up with the wedding talk.

"Oh, honey." my mother said looking at my father from across the table. "Have you given your wedding cuffs to Pete yet?" she said. I looked up in shock.

"I was thinking about waiting until the wedding day. Will you be able to make it, Madison?" my father asked. I stared at him in disbelief.

"Oh that reminds me I need to take Gammy's pearls to the shop to get cleaned. Can't have Joan walking down the aisle with dirty pearls." she said before I could answer my father. My face started to get hot with rage. Grandpa's cuffs? Grandma's pearls? These were family heir looms, last time I checked they weren't family. Last time I checked I was their only daughter.

"Madison, are you alright? You look a little flushed." my mother said. I looked up at her like she was the devil himself.

"Why are you giving them our family heir looms?" I asked barely able to keep it together.

"Well honey, Pete's been your only boyfriend and now he's marrying someone else. We've accepted the fact you will never be married or produce us grandchildren. Besides both of Joans parents have past, who else does she have." My father said. The saying you have a frog in your throat actually made sense to me for the first time. I opened my mouth to speak and croaks came out. I cleared my throat and looked at both of them.

"I'm going upstairs now." I said as I got to my feet, careful not to snap. "Oh and FYI dad, I have a boyfriend. He's actually the reason I'm here." I began to walk out of the dining room when my parents erupted in laughter.

"Tell me Madison. Was he with us for dinner tonight?" my mother said as she began to laugh again. I forced myself up the stairs. If it was anyone else I'd go back and punch them in the face.

I crashed onto my bed and starred at the ceiling. This was the worst day of my life, so far. Kicked off, either temporally or permanently, of the RRTS. Waiting to find out that fate on top of almost being pregnant. And being away from the people that actually made me feel loved. Sarge had no idea how bad this punishment was.


	28. Mary Ann, Pete, and OMG Really's?

**Good ol' Superbowl... what else to do than write a shit ton. :) **

I walked into the building that I had spent most of my childhood in. It looked more modern, not the typical professional office from the 20th century. I walked in behind my father and walked to Mary's office. Thank god she still worked here.

"Mary Ann!" I said as I walked in and embraced the old woman in a hug.

"Oh, Madison! It's so good to see you. How was your trip?" she asked. I looked at her with uncertainty. _Maddie if you are fired from the marines, you'll be moved out of the house into your own place. Where is the harm in telling her?_

"Actually-" I began to tell her as my father walking in.

"Mary, quit dallying around and get to work." he said and walked off. I looked over at Mary.

"I'll tell you at lunch." I said with a smile and walked after my father.

"Dad, was that entirely necessary?" I interrupted him talking to one of his workers. He turned around to reveal Pete standing behind him.

"Oh, Madison, meet my new VP." he said. I looked at them both in even more disbelief.

"Hi, Madison." Pete said with a smile.

"Seriously." I said as I took off my jacket revealing one of the little scars from my first mission.

"Oh, my God. What happened?" Pete asked as he saw the small scar on my arm.

"What that? That's a paper cut." I said looking at the scar. "Dad, you seriously made him VP? He doesn't know anything about architecture. He's a writing major."

"He is the best man I have here." my dad said.

"Really? You didn't just do it to piss me off even more?" I asked. Both my dad and Pete gave me a confused look. "I'm leaving." I walked out the door.

"See you tomorrow for lunch!" Pete said. I froze and turned.

"What?" I asked.

"The company party." my dad said. I looked at them both and shook my head. I walked to Mary Ann's office.

"Hey, want me to come by when lunch time rolls around?" I asked. She looked up at me emotionally, physically and mentally drained.

"Hey, hun. Let's just sit together at the company party tomorrow. Oh please tell me your going. I cant do it alone." she said with exhaustion. I looked at her with sympathy and nodded.

"Of course I will Mary Ann." I said as I walked over and squeezed her hand. "I'll see you tomorrow." She nodded her head and I walked out of the door. I walked to a nearby park that I would go to when I was little with some of the other coworkers children. I sat on my old swing and looked at the sky. It had been so long since I had watched the clouds dance in the sky. It was so calming. I got lost in the clouds thinking about RRTS, John, this whole situation with my parents and Pete. With a sigh I got up and called a cab to take me home.

I went to the liquor store on the way home and bought a bottle of Jack Daniels. I disliked the taste of alcohol and disliked drinking but there were times that I would just drink. Plus I was on temporary leave, so what the hell. I waited until I got home before I busted out the bottle. I ignored my parents asking me where I have been all day and went into my room and locked it. I put the TV onto a station that I didn't recognize and watched and drank.


	29. The Truth and a Suprise

**OMG! I cant wait to post the next chapter... well and this one too but OMG this is the whole reason why I wrote this story in the first place! I love this and the next chapter... :D Cant wait to hear your reviews! Keep em coming. Love you all!**

I woke up with a hangover. More than half of the bottle of jack still in my hand.

"Ugh." escaped my lips as I rolled out of bed. I walked across the hall and took a shower. I looked at the time I had an hour until the company party.

I got dressed in a sun dress I found in the back of my closet. It miraculously still fit considering my new muscles compared from when I left. It was neon orange which made my tank top tan stand out. I looked like a true Cali girl.

I put on some sandals and walked down the stairs and got into the car. My parents followed after me and we were off to some Mexican restaurant. My parents lectured me how I was so irresponsible for leaving them yesterday. I looked at them both and rolled my eyes.

"You realize I can snap someone's neck without hardly any effort?" I said. They both glanced at me in the mirror and then stayed silent the rest of the time. We pulled up to a nice, as in upper class, Mexican restaurant. We got out and walked in, the entire restaurant had been cleared out for us. A long table was laid out in the middle of the building with a bunch of food. Pete and Joan were sitting across from where Mary Ann was sitting. She had saved a spot for me next to her. I walked over and took my seat not even making any eye contact with either one of the two traitors in front of me.

"So Darling, tell me about your time away." Mary Ann said next to me. My parents sat next to Joan so they were a bit further down the table from me. My father heard Mary Ann's question and gave me a death glare. Sweet, ol' Mary Ann noticed.

"Do you want to go out for a smoke?" she asked. I nodded as we got up and walked to the back of the building. She lit up her cigarette as I began to tell her the truth.

"Mary Ann, I wasn't traveling around the world. I joined the Marines and I'm actually doing really well with it." I said as she took out her cigarette. She didn't look as fazed or shocked as I thought she would.

"Oh honey, I knew you weren't traveling. You'd have to be stupid to believe your parents lies. So, the Marines, eh? I could have guessed that. You've always been a fighter." she said putting the cigarette back in her mouth. I laughed at the way she was.

"Mary Ann, have I ever told you how much I love you?" I asked she laughed her old woman laugh.

"I know darling. So tell me all about it." She said smiling.

"OK, I'll sum it all up for you. I was accepted into the RRTS, Rapid Response Tactical Squad. I'm the Medical Sargent for the best squad you can imagine. I work with 7 men and I love it." I said.

"How many times have you ended up in the infirmary?" she asked knowing my ability to get hurt.

"My leg has been through hell. As well as my ribs and lungs. I've been in a slight coma after my leg incident. That's about it though." I said, she once again didn't look surprised.

"Last question, since I'm almost done with my cig. Why are you here and not there?" she asked. I smiled.

"I'm here because I like one of the men on my squad. I've been sleeping with him for a couple of weeks now. Our Sargent caught us and sent me home. And I thought I was pregnant." I said. I finally got a reaction out of Mary Ann. She put her cigarette out.

"Tell me about this hunky man. And are you?" she asked, glancing at my stomach then back up to me. I shook my head.

"No I'm not. His name is John Grimm. And Mary Ann, he treats me well. He's saved my life a couple times. And I've saved his." I said thinking about that hunky man.

"That's my girl. When your team is on leave you should come out and let me meet them." She said. I nodded as she gave me a hug. "I'm so glad your happy Madison."

"Me too Mary Ann. Thank you so much for everything." I said.

"Well, lets get in there before your father fires me." she said. I rolled my eyes and followed her into the restaurant. We sat down at our seats having the four people we hated the most sitting across from us, glaring.

"What are you going to get?" Mary Ann asked me, looking at the array of food on the menu.

"Probably the fish taco's. You?" I said thinking of how good that would taste.

"That sounds good." she said putting her menu down. The waitress came by and took our orders.

"So, your father tells me you have an imaginary boyfriend." Joan said smirking. I smirked back as I took a sip of the ice water in front of me. I looked over at Mary Ann smirking at me. I nodded my head and spit the water in Joan's face.

"A bird told me that you're a bitch." I said smirking.

"Sargent is that anyway to treat a civilian?" the deep voice I could pin point anywhere asked. I froze a little and then turned with excitement. Sarge was standing there with a black tank top and his cargo pants, looking down at me with a smirk. I smirked back.

"No sir. But on the other hand her name is Joan." I said, his smirk went away as he stared at the people behind me, then back to me.

"Maddie, we need to talk." he said, seriously.

"Yes, sir." I said getting up. I could hear the people murmuring behind me. I couldn't help but see Mary Ann undressing Sarge with her eyes as I got up to follow him. I followed Sarge to the corner of the room out of sight from everyone.

"Maddie." he began. "We've decided that you can come back tomorrow, given that you aren't pregnant. However, you an John cannot sleep on the job." Sarge said. I looked behind him and had to actually close my eyes and open them again. It was John.

"What the-" I said.

"Maddie do you understand?" Sarge asked, smiling at my reaction of John. "If you two have sex while on call or at base you will be permanently asked to leave."

"Yes- yes sir." I said still staring at the man behind him.

"OK. John has to talk to you." he said and moved.

"Sarge." John said with a nod, as he walked over to me. Before I could say anything he grabbed my hand and led me to the bathroom. Sarge followed close behind. We entered the bathroom and Sarge stayed on guard outside of the door.


	30. The Biggest OMG Moment in History

**It may be a short chapter and maybe a little out of character but I couldn't help myself... :D Sorry if I piss anyone off but it goes with my whole 3 part story... blah blah blah anyway wow 3 reviews in not even 30 minutes... I love you guys :) Keep it up oh and yes I'm going to bitch about my poll again go vote... :D **

We walked into the bathroom, I became confused at why we had to go into the bathroom.

"John why couldn't we go outside or something-" I was saying as he crashed his lips to mine. I kissed back, realizing how much I had actually missed him. He lifted me up onto the sink and then stopped kissing me.

"What's wrong?" I asked as he looked me dead in the eye.

"Maddie, I'm here because I asked Sarge if I could come." he began. He fiddled around in his pockets for a moment. "This was kind of last minute but when I told Sarge my idea he actually let out a soft side."

"You'll never see it Maddie!" Sarge said behind the door. I laughed at Sarge and looked back at John, he looked like he had in Africa after I had woken up. Nervous.

"I realized with everything that has gone on in the last couple of days, that I want you to be in my life not just at RRTS. Don't think this is moving fast but-" he said as he pulled out what he had been fishing for. "I just picked it up on the way here. Madison Jones, I know we have only known each other for about 6 months but it's been a long 6 months. Will you marry me?" he asked. I stared at him, nothing came to my throat. This man in front of me, the man who I was sleeping with, the man who I was working with, the one I was attracted to the moment I stepped into the office... WAS ASKING ME TO MARRY HIM! WTF! Why was I waiting so long to answer him.

"Yes!" I said with a tear rolling down my face. Aside from Duke and Goat, John was my best friend. Fuck they all are my best friends.

"Yes." I said again as he kissed me. I hugged him close enjoying his arms around me. I never thought in a million years that this hot man would ask me to marry him, let alone me saying yes! I mean for crying out loud we only knew each other for 6 months! Barely 6 months! But when I looked at John I saw a whole new life for me. Away from my parents, away from this place. Hell I never even thought about getting married until 30 seconds ago.

"Hey are you guys done yet? No time for sex you can do that later, you have all night!" Sarge said. "Plus sex in the public bathroom... not classy!" John and I laughed at Sarge's comments and walked out of the bathroom.

"So?" Sarge asked.

"Yeah." I said, as John kissed the side of my head.

"Oh another reason I wanted to do this now... Wanna go tell your family?" John said. My eyes widened in excitement.

"Oh my God! I love you!" I said and kissed him. I grabbed his arm and ran to the table.

"Hey assholes! With the exception of you." I said looking down at Mary Ann.

"This is my Sargent Asher Mahonin, I'm in the marines part of the RRTS, bitches. Oh and this is my fiance John Grimm." I said showing them all the ring.

"I'll call you when we have the plans." I said to Marry Ann and gave her a hug.

"I hate you all." I said as we walked out of the restaurant leaving everyone with their mouths open in shock except for Mary Ann who had the biggest smirk on her face.

…...

"OK, you guys have this room for the night. Make the most of it cause its out of your paycheck." Sarge said as he left us at the hotel. We had just got back from picking up my stuff at my parents house. I looked up at John as he smiled at me.

"Let's get up there." he said with a sly smirk.

"Hells yeah!" I said as we raced up to our room.


	31. Wedding Talk and Family Revelations

**Hey guys sorry I didnt update this weekend. Busy, busy busy. Anyway I'm thinking maybe only 4 more chapters left. (I'm editing them now.) Thanks for the reviews you know they are my addiction. Happy Valentines/Single Awareness Day (personally think its a hallmark holiday but I mind as well just say it.) This is kind of a shorter chapter but I think it's cute. On another note there is a book called _John Dies at the End. _It's kind of a mature audience book but it is hilarious and all sorts of weirdness. Some of you may enjoy it. It's free online, you can download the PDF of it (need help just message me and I'll send ya the link). Best part of this ramble... its going to a movie and its coming out next year. So happy I could cry. Okay one last tid bit, please go vote on the poll. I'm obviously almost down with this story and I will begin to work on the sequel, but what to do when that ends? (with the exception of the 3rd one) Okay anywho enjoy guys love you**

"And then I told Sarge that I love you and he told me to come along. We came early so we could have tonight, after I asked you the big question. Plus it pissed Portman off, on the fact he isn't getting any." John said lying next to me. The sheet was the only thing covering us from the world.

"I'm so happy." I said as I kissed him.

"More champagne?" he asked holding the bottle.

"Sure." I said with the glass in my hand. "Oh I have a question for you." He gave me his curious look. "Who's Dr. Samantha Grimm?" I asked. His face went pale, which made my mind start to roll. _Mother, wife, ex wife, sister, cousin, aunt, sister in law?_ Which raised another thing, John had never talked about his family.

"John?" I asked.

"Uh- Um- uh." he said. He sighed and looked at the bed then to me. "I guess you should know. The only one who does is Sarge, I'd like to keep it that way." he said.

"Okay." I said reluctantly.

"She's my sister." he said.

"Okay, that's not so bad." I said, he looked at me with a sadness I've never seen.

"When we were little my sister and I lived on Mars with our parents. They were UAC scientists stationed on Olduvai. Being archaeologist they would work outside of the office, on mars. There was an accident and they both were killed leaving my sister and I orphans." I sucked in my breath not knowing what to say and regretting that I brought it up.

"Oh, John. I'm so sorry." I said scooting closer to him and placing my hand on his face. He sighed and looked down.

"My sister still works up there as a scientist." he finished.

"Well, I saw her in an archeologist magazine. She looks a lot like you." I said. He nodded. "Hey, let's not let this ruin the moment." I said as I kissed him. I looked up at him as he smiled.

"So I was thinking about getting married during leave. In Vegas." he said. "I don't have a family, yours are assholes. RRTS is our family and Sarge can even marry us because of his rank. What?" he said as I smiled at him.

"I love that idea. Only if Sarge dresses up as Elvis." I said as we both laughed.

"Wait til we tell the guys." John said.

"That'll be a great wedding picture." I said thinking of all the guys in tux's and standing with smiles and champagne glasses.

"We should take pics when we tell them. I think Duke might pass out." John said. We made jokes and talked about our wedding the entire night as well as getting down and dirty as much as possible.


	32. Zombies? New Recruit?

**I dedicate this chapter not only to my faithful readers and reviewers but to Max Brooks, Author of _The Zombie Survival Guide_. If you haven't read it, its hilarious. He gave me the inspiration for this chapter, which the parts from the book I obviously don't own they are his. If you've read the book you'll know. Thanks to my review... yes only one... Kinda sad but oh well... I'll live and update more because there is only 2-3 more chapters left... I know so bittersweet. XOXOXO**

I laid in the bed half awake staring at the ring on my left hand, still getting used to it's presence. The diamond wasn't huge but it was a pretty decent size. It glittered, as the sun came through the window. The arm around my waist pulled my closer to the attached body.

"Good morning." John said as he kissed the side of my head.

"Morning." I said with a smile on my face. I looked behind me to see him, he was smiling like the devil.

"Shower?" he asked. I smiled as we raced to the shower, that involved more than just getting clean. After that we went down stairs. John had called a taxi while I dried my hair. I hated having my hair air dried. John came back up to the room to walk with me down to the taxi.

"Hey, I bought a portable camera." he said as he walked into the room and picked up my bag for me.

"Really?" I said surprised at what he said was actually coming true. I walked out of the bathroom as He nodded and snapped a picture of me. "Really?" I said again without much enthusiasm. We took a picture of the two of us as we got into the taxi. The drive back to base was a bittersweet feeling, and only lasted about 20 minutes. At least it felt like that. The taxi dropped us off and we walked in.

"You got the camera?" I asked John. He nodded and we walked down the stairs. Sarge spotted us and started to round everyone up. In the car I made up this ridiculous idea to make everyone get together for a group picture.

"Gentlemen. Meet the future Mr. and Mrs. Grimm." Sarge announced. John began taking pictures of the expressions of everyone. Everyone had an open mouth but Duke, Goat and Destroyer had what it looked like tears swelling up in their eyes. It was something to see.

"Congratulations." Mac said as he came up to us.

"Oh which reminds me. For leave if you could join us on the momentous occasion in Vegas that would be great." I said with a smile. The room erupted in joy at the thoughts of Vegas.

"I think we should do a group picture." I said looking at John as he started putting the camera away.

"Okay." he said looking like I was nuts, of course it was my insane idea in the first place.

"Everyone get together like you like each other." I said as I let my bag fall to the floor. The men gathered around each other. I set the timer on the camera and ran to stand with John. "Okay Guys smile." I said , before the camera flashed John and I kissed. "Thanks guys." I said. I liked pictures they froze moments in time.

"Okay, enough of this pansy stuff we got a mission." Sarge said.

"Where?" Goat asked.

"We're helping the CDC clean up a mess in LA." Sarge said as we all started to walk to the locker rooms.

"Whoa, wait CDC? Why the hell do they need us? We ain't the Bio hazard clean up team." Portman said.

"Sarge, as much as it pains me to say this Portman has a point." I said. All the eyes in the room turned to me. "What? You guys cant tell me your not thinking the same thing."

"We'll discuss it in transport." Sarge said as we all began preparing for the trip.

When we were all in the helicopter we patiently waited for Sarge to speak.

"OK, men, the reason we are involved in this is because it is a high class situation. After this mission nothing happened here. A disease called the Solanum virus, got out. It's also known as the "Zombie virus." The virus has many of the same symptoms of the 20th century zombies. Two gangs, the V.B.R. and the Los Peros Negros got into one of their gang fights and were over run by the zombies. They've all been arrested and are in mental institutions since this did not happen." Sarge said with his serious look on his face.

"On a lighter note when we get back we are going to have a new recruit waiting for us." Sarge said.

"This close to leave?" John asked sitting next to me. Sarge shrugged.

"He got the position, when he got the position." Sarge said.

"And what is his position?" Portman asked.

"He's still just a Private." Sarge said. As the helicopter landed on the ground. The door opened and we all filed out of the helicopter. CDC vans, flood lights, people in full body bio hazard suits. It looked like something out of a science fiction movie.

We heard a whistle and saw a man motioning to us. We all walked over.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Brooks." the man said as he looked through a microscope.

"Why did you request us, Dr. Brooks?" Sarge said. The man held up his finger for a moment and adjusted the microscope.

"You're just here as a precaution." Brooks said.

"We don't do precaution." Portman said.

"Portman shut up." John said.

"You do today." Brooks said. We all held our breath for a moment to see Sarge's reaction. Sarge just stood and glared at the man.

"They need you over there." Brooks said as he pointed in the direction behind us. Sarge grunted and we followed behind him.

"Why are you taking this shit from the mouse scientists?" Duke said.

"Our commands are whatever the scientists tell us to do." Sarge said clenching his teeth. We walked over and took our positions of guarding the scene. We were paired in two's around the perimeter.

"So, how was your weekend leave?" Duke asked. I gave him a sly smile before I laughed.

"Oh god it was amazing." I said, remembering everything from John to my parents.

"How was living with your parents?" he asked. I gave him a slight glare.

"It was really shitty until Sarge and John showed up." I said.

"Do they know about you and John? Do they approve?" he asked with a smile of his own knowing the answers already.

"Oh, John and I told them about our engagement the moment it happened. They also found out the truth about me and the Marines. It's taken 10 years for them to realize... I don't need their approval." I said with a smile on my face, finally feeling awake.


	33. The Kid

**Uber short one sorry... didn't realize it was this short... You still love me enough to review though lol... **

Well it was another mission that was a bust. Stupid government rules. We all piled back into the helicopter exhausted, for the last 12 hours of standing on our feet and looking for nothing.

"Well, men, two missions in a row that sucked ass. If it was up to me we would have leave now and not in a week and a half." Sarge said as he stretched his legs out in front of him. The helicopter lifted off the ground. I put my head on John's shoulder.

"Rest now men. We have our recruit waiting for us at base. Got to set a good example." Sarge said as he adjusted his seat.

"So what hotel do you want to stay at in Vegas?" John said out of know where. I lifted my head and looked at him.

"I don't know. MGM? Luxor? You choose it's not like we're going to be going anywhere." I said with a smirk. He let out a chuckle and put his arm around my shoulders.

"Very true." he said. Portman and Duke let out a groan at our affection, John and I couldn't resist the laughter.

"Okay men. Look alive." Sarge said as the helicopter landed. The doors opened and we filed out into the locker room.

We changed into our laid back uniforms and walked into the bunk area to meet this new recruit. We walked in and saw a guy.

"Sarge, he's just a kid." I said looking at the kid in front of me. He was a little taller than me, doe eyes, and dark curly hair. He couldn't have been much older than 21, if even that.

"Maddie." Goat said behind me. I turned around he had a smile on his face showing he agreed with me.

"Gentlemen this is Private Mark Dantalian, our new recruit. And yes, Maddie he is the youngest marine to make it to the RRTS." Sarge said introducing the kid.

"We're calling him the kid." I said to Sarge in a low voice. He gave me his eyebrow look and then introduced himself to the kid. Everyone else trickled with the introductions after that.

"Madison Jones, soon to be Grimm, call me Maddie." I said with a peppy smile. The kid gave me a weird look.

"You'll get used to it." Destroyer said. I rolled my eyes at him and sat on my bunk thinking what hotel John and I should stay at during our wedding/honeymoon leave.


	34. Day of Leave: 14:00 hours

**SECOND TO LAST CHAPTER! Omg omg omg omg omg omg omg omg I cant believe it... I'll upload the last chapter sometime either tonight or tomorrow... most likely tomorrow... unless I get tons of reviews then it might be tonight... plus it depends on what classes give me homework and what one's don't... so it's partly up to you guys if the last one gets updated tonight and partly my teachers... hope they don't give me homework... cause I don't want homework lol xoxoxoxo**

It was the day of leave. Everyone was packing up and excited for Vegas. Some of the guys were going to go off and do their own thing after the wedding. Destroyers girlfriend is going to meet us in Vegas. He's planning on asking her to marry him, where in Vegas he wasn't sure. I told him somewhere around the Eiffel tower, making it romantic. The kid had grown used to our teasing and was actually really skilled with a gun. I was surprised at how well the kid was adapting to everything.

"So, you guys can hate me all you want but we are taking a picture before the transport get's here, when we get to the hotel and the following morning. Not to mention you all in tux's. That's going to be a vision." I said holding the camera in my hand.

"Seeing you in a dress is going to be freaky." Duke said. I threw my pillow at him as he packed his clothes into his bag. I looked around at all the men packing their bags with a smile. We all needed a vacation.

"Jesus, Sarge was right. I pack less then all of you." I said, all the guys had either a bag twice the size of mine or two bags.

"We all ready for Vegas?" Sarge said walking down the stairs.

"Hell yeah!" Everyone said in unison.

"OK, does everyone know their parts?" I asked. Everyone gave me an odd look. "Hey, I am a girl in case you all forgot. I want everything to be perfect, even if it is just a Vegas wedding." They all rolled their eyes at the same time, if they had to do that again they wouldn't be able to.

"Fine." John said as he walked over to me.

"Okay Sarge, you're marrying us. Goat your walking me down the aisle. Duke your best man. Destroyer's girlfriend is my maid of honor. I called Mary Ann, she will be there with the cake. Destroyer is going to be next to Duke. Mark and Mac will be filming and in charge of the music. And Portman stands in the background." I said. Everyone nodded and rolled their eyes. Portman actually looked sad.

"Fine Portman stands next to Duke, Destroyer stands next to his girl." I said changing it.

"We done?" Sarge asked. I nodded and he went back up the stairs.

"You know, Maddie." Goat said as he stood next to me. Everyone else went off to do their own things.

"Yes, Goat?" I asked.

"I'm really honored you chose me to take you down the aisle." he said.

"Goat you're like a father to me. Hell you've been there for me more than both of my parents have for me." I said with a smile. The man looked down at me, his eyes watering. Was he... was he about to start crying?

"I love you Maddie." He said.

"I love you too Goat." I said pulling him into a hug.

"OK where is that man they call Reaper? I need to talk to him." I said as I pulled out of the hug.

"No Panky in the bathroom." Duke said as he threw his bag on the floor and sat on his bed.

"Perv." I said as Goat pointed me in the direction he saw John walk.

"John?" I said. He was standing in the armory room.

"Hey." he said as he turned around and pulled me into a hug.

"Everything alright?" I asked as he stroked my back.

"Just wish my parents could be alive to meet you. I'm sure they would love you." he said. I pulled out of the hug.

"Which leads me to my question for you. Are you sure you don't want to invite your sister? She is your sister after all." I said. He shook his head.

"No, we cant invite her. I haven't seen her in years. Plus she would never get the message in time. It's 2 o clock right now." he said. I nodded my head.

"I just wanted to double check." I said with a smile. "What are you doing in here anyway?" I asked looking at all the guns that the RRTS owned. We only got to use like 3 different ones.

"I came in here to think about stuff." he said.

"Like?" I pushed.

"Oh just how we are going to be married. I want to take you on a legit honeymoon. Where do you want to go?" he asked. My smile widened.

"Jamaica!" I yelled. He jumped at my sudden out burst and began to laugh.

"Hippie." he said with a smile.

"Gun fanatic." I said as he picked up some guns and walked back into the bunk room. He placed his guns on the table and began to clean them. The man loved his guns.


	35. Leave Cancelled and Recommendations

**OMG the last chapter... I want to thank everyone that has reviewed and I want to thank the people who have read it the whole time. It has been almost a year since I started writing this story... I know I could have updated more and faster but shit happens. Might I say, Karl Urban is gorgeous I am watching Doom right now getting more ideas for Part 2! For the first time I noticed his tattoo on his arm at the beginning when leave is canceled... meow! OK on with the story and thanks again to all of you... Oh and please review... :) xoxoxo**

"Oh you're trying to get nasty now, huh?" Duke said playing one of his hand held video games while laying on his bed. The damned transport was late and all we could do was sit around and wait. "Now you dead. You dead, sucker. All right, all right. You wanna bring your boys? You wanna bring your boys? What?" Duke said as he looked up from his game for a half a second to find me staring at him.

"You're just so cute when you play video games." I said sarcastically. I was so anxious and fidgety. We should be on the way or in Vegas now, where was that goddamn transport?

"Uh, I don't believe this!" Portman said as he paced around looking at his watch. He was dressed in a ridiculous Hawaiian like shirt and he was ready to party. Goat was reading his bible and praying, something he had been doing more and more lately. Destroyer and Mac were playing baseball with some bad oranges we got the other day. The kid was mopping up his bunk area, good ol newbie. John was still cleaning his damned guns oblivious to the lateness of the transport. I walked over to his desk and leaned against the locker.

"Six months without a weekend and the goddamned transporters are 5 minutes late!" Portman yelled cutting off my attention to John. I shook my head at Portman and then looked to John.

"Hey, you." I said grabbing his attention.

"Hey." he said with a smile as he put the gun down.

"Good thing Vegas is open 24/7." I smiled.

"Yeah, that's true." he said as he looked up at me with a smirk. "Come here." he said motioning for me to sit on his lap. I did so and looked into his eyes.

"So, Jamaica has our reservations, we get 3 days in Vegas then we go." he said explaining the honeymoon. Everyone around us was talking about what they were going to do after Vegas as well. Portman said disturbing comments about his R and R.

"Where are the love birds going after Vegas?" Duke said still completely shut off from the world with his game.

"Jamaica." I said. "I see one of you there I'm killing you." Everyone laughed at my comment. Since we had announced our engagement everyone wouldn't get off our case about sex. John and I hadn't since the motel room during my weekend leave.

"Sure." They all mumbled words. Sarge's footsteps distracted everyone from carrying on the conversation.

"Listen up, men." Sarge said as he stopped coming down the stairs. Everyone stopped what they were doing and gave him the attention he needed.

"Leave is canceled." he said. My heart sank as John wrapped his arm around my waist knowing how sad I was but refused to show it. _Oh well, guess I'll wait a couple more days. _

"Oh man, I just- I don't believe this shit. Fuck!" Duke said getting up from the bed and turning the radio off.

"You got a problem with that Duke?" Sarge asked.

"Me, Sarge? Hell no, I love my job." Duke said.

"What's up Sarge?" Destroyer said.

"We got a mission. One that is more of a game, and no it doesn't sound to be a flop as the last two have."

"Kid. Son, now you are in the Rapid Response Tactical Squad, the RRTS. Fall in." Sarge said. We all made our own mad voice or grunt and got up.

"Guess we will just have to post pone that thought." John said as I got up from his lap.

"I guess so." I said as we walked to the lockers. Sarge walked in front of John.

"Not this time John." Sarge said. I looked at him confused then to John.

"What?" John said.

"We can handle this one." Sarge said.

"You're bullshitting me." John said looking at me then to Sarge.

"Sarge?" I said standing there. "What's going on?"

"No, I'm not bullshitting. We're going to Olduvai." Sarge said. My heart and stomach jumped from my chest into my throat. I looked over at John.

"Olduvai?" John repeated shocked.

"Maddie." Sarge said. I looked up to Sarge.

"Yes, sir?" I said forgetting about Sarge's thing about 'sir'.

"You guys should take the leave." he said.

"What?" I said now confused. "You want us to take the leave? Isn't that against the rules? Having two of your best men not go? Including the only two trained medics?" I said, "Thank you Sarge, but as much as it literally kills me to say this... I'll go. John, you should stay and wait for me, hell wait for me on the Jamaican beach. I'll drag these buffoons down there with me when this is done, and we'll have the wedding there."

"Is that an order?" John asked both Sarge and I.

"It's a recommendation." Sarge said. "See you when I get back." Sarge turned and left John and I standing there.

"Look, babe. I'll be fine. Stay here, go to Jamaica and keep the bed warm, I'll be there soon." I said leaning up to him to give him a peck on the lips. I turned to walk away but not before he grabbed me into one of those dramatic movie kisses.

"I love you." he said as he let me go.

"I love you too Reaper." I said and walked off to the lockers leaving my lover behind.

**_To be continued... _**


End file.
